Close to 45,000 children don’t go to school

Poverty a key factor behind their plight, according to a report by an NGO.

KUALA LUMPUR: Close to 45,000 children in Malaysia are denied access to education due to poverty, with most coming from the Orang Asli community, said a report by an NGO, the Child Rights Coalition Malaysia.

The report, published after a two-year research on the status of children in the country, also stated that birth registration remains among the major problems, especially for the “marginalised” groups like the urban and rural poor.

The research found that these children were denied access to education because of non-recognition of their citizenship.

This could possibly be due to discrimination in birth registrations, which the group said is a breach of the Child Rights Convention that Malaysia ratified in 1995.

The government had promised in 2009 that children without birth certificates will be allowed to register in national schools as part of its promise to observe the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), but the coalition said the implementation remains weak.

Article 7 of the CRC states that any child born in any country should be registered immediately after birth and should be accorded the right to acquire a nationality.

The coalition now wants the government to provide free birth registration system “at all stages” nationwide.

“Also, all children, regardless of legal status must be able to get to access birth registration,” it said, adding that the government must ensure children without birth certificates get education, healthcare and child protection services.

The coalition also wants the government to lift the remaining reservations in ratifying the CRC.

According to the report, the Malaysian government does not recognise three articles of the conventions: non-discrimination, birth registrations and the right to nationality and compulsory education for all.

The group also urged the private sector and society as a whole to ensure child rights are observed while calling on the government to comply fully with the CRC.