| Universiti Putra Malaysia

Dyslexia is no barrier to attaining Bachelor of Accounting

By: Dr. Cheng Kai Wah, FEM

SERDANG, Jan 9 – Although he was only able to master the 3M skills - reading, writing, and counting in Standard 4, that beginning did not stop Amirul Ashraf Mohamad Azmi, 26, from attaining a Bachelor of Accounting from the School of Business and Economics (SPE), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), at the 44th UPM Convocation Ceremony, today.

He was diagnosed with Dyslexia which affected his learning ability, but he continued to persevere until he was able to complete his bachelor's degree in four years without failing any course just like the other students.

"Today is a very special day for me. The Bachelor of Accounting is not an easy programme, especially for someone with Dyslexia like me,” he said.

“I have always held the principle that even if a student has a physical or mental disability, they should still believe in themselves. Do not underestimate your ability and do not give up too quickly if faced with any challenge in academics," he added.

Every child must have talents; therefore, he said, parents or guardians need to be aware and play their part by bringing their child to a specialist if the child had Dyslexia.

He also said that students need to have daily planning and personal goals both in life and academics and need to be good in dividing time for sports and revision.

“I have many sweet memories with my classmates in UPM. We always jogged at Bukit Ekspo and played badminton as well as futsal at the Sports Centre. The sweetest and most grateful thing is that I met my future wife here,” he said.

He is now an accountant in a private company in the semiconductor sector and plans to continue his studies in the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the near future. - UPM

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