Confusion over Reshina’s student status

A member of the Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs says no one told her to stop going to school, but her school says the instruction came from the district education department.

PETALING JAYA: B Reshina can go back to school on Monday, even without a blue MyCard, according to a member of the Cabinet Committee for Indians Affairs, N Siva Subramaniam.

Commenting on a FMT article about the 17-year-old’s plight, Siva said no one stopped her from going to school.

However, an official of Gombak’s Chong Hwa Chinese Secondary School confirmed today that the school, acting on instruction from the Gombak District Education Department, had told her to stay away until she had secured her blue MyKad or received permission from the department to attend classes as a foreign national.

According to Siva, Reshina (photo, in uniform) is registered with the Malaysian Examination Council and can therefore sit for the SPM examination this year.

Yesterday, Reshina’s sister Gowre told FMT she stopped going to school two weeks ago.

“Although some of her teachers protested, the school could do nothing as it was a directive from the department,” Gowre said.

Siva said he consulted the school yesterday and found out that it had been telling Reshina’s family to get her a blue MyKadfor the past five years.

“But it seems the father never bothered to even turn up at the school to sort the matter out.”

Siva said he was at a loss to explain why she stopped going to school. “Malaysia is a signatory of a United Nations treaty for the right of education,” he said. “Her claim is untrue. All she has to do now is get her MyKad.”

The Chong Hwa official said the school started increasing pressure on Reshina last March to get the MyKad to avoid complications.

“I told her to use the March school holidays to get her card,” he said. “When she came back after the holidays, I personally asked her about the applications status. But she broke down in tears and said she had already informed her father but that he had not done anything.”

Rude reaction

The school called the father for a meeting and pressed him to get the card as soon as possible.

“He told me he had already applied but had yet to receive a reply,” said the official. “I told him not to let the matter rest and he must work harder to get the matter sorted out.”

The official said he and his colleagues also spoke to Reshina’s sister, but he claimed they were rudely told off.

“The sister told me it was the school’s job to get Reshina her blue card.”

The official said he also told Reshina to apply with the district education department to let her study in the school as a foreign national.

“It is a temporary measure until she gets her MyKad. There were even generous donors who contributed nearly RM200 for her application.”

On April 10, according to the official, Reshina’s family finally made an application with the department and officials there told her to give them two weeks to process it.

“I told her family to ask the department whether she could come to school during the two weeks. But then, she just stopped coming.”

The official said the school had done all it could to help Reshina, including issuing a support letter for her.

“Her teachers even went to the education office and made appeals on Reshina’s behalf. What else can we do?”