about us

The Basic Knowledge Training Group (BKTG) is one charity project out of ten others under MINDS MYG, a subsidiary volunteer wing of the Movement of the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). Every Saturday, the 10 projects under MINDS MYG collectively serve over 200 Persons With Intellectual Disabilities (PWIDs), ranging from children to adults, and across the entire spectrum of intellectual disabilities.

 

Over at BKTG, we specialize in taking care of adult PWIDs. Our sessions are therefore structured towards honing the adult PWIDs’ abilities in creativity and independent living. Where the adult PWIDs are already working in employment centers, we help them revise the skills needed for them to perform at the workplace. We also conduct sports and activities to keep their mind and body active. A typical session on Saturday would involve the following:

 

3:00 pm: Welcome & Sing-a-long

3:30 pm: Classroom Activities

4:30 pm: Sports and Physical Activities

5:00 pm: Tea Break

5:30 pm: End of Session

 

When conducting our sessions, we stand in the position of teachers; our beneficiaries are “trainees”. But we hope to be more of kith and kin than teachers. And we are not fixated about creating the best classroom or syllabus, but more with creating a warm and caring environment that our “trainees” can look forward to attending every week.

 

We’ve been on this job since 1983. Over these years, some of our adult “trainees” have aged, and (unhappily) some of us have also aged along with them. Perhaps conducting sessions every week tells only one side of the story. Really, being at BKTG is not just about teaching or training. It is about sharing your life with people outside your family, walking into the sunset together with them, and along the way, showing the world that there is life in these old dogs yet!