Special class for dropouts, undocumented to begin tomorrow

 

Director-general of education Pkharuddin Ghazali said the ministry wanted to ensure that no child is left behind in completing their primary and secondary schooling by 2030. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A special class to provide education to dropouts, street kids and undocumented children is to start operating in Sabah tomorrow.

The Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (SBJK) is one of the efforts of the education ministry to provide access to education for all young people in the country, director-general of education Pkharuddin Ghazali said.

Bernama reported that the programme would be implemented at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu. It will kick off with eight students first and will be further expanded in Sabah.

Pkharuddin said the programme will play a role in ensuring quality and equitable inclusive education and promote lifelong learning opportunities.

It will ensure that no child is left behind in completing their primary and secondary schooling by 2030.

“SBJK students are children of Malaysian citizens or children of single parents who are Malaysian citizens. They come from groups like hardcore poor families who have dropped out of school for a long time or children without identity documents.

“This is in addition to street and marginalised children and orphans who live in welfare centres registered with the social welfare department,” he said when inaugurating the programme today.

He said a management engagement session, conducted by the Sabah national registration department (JPN) had identified the eight students of citizens who had dropped out of the school system due to poverty. They were also from families, with illegal or undocumented births.

“They came to the Children’s Activity Centre, under the supervision of the Sabah social welfare department, to learn about the basic concepts of 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic).

SK Sembulan was chosen as it is near the homes of these eight students.

Pkharuddin said the first SBJK to operate was in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, in 2013. It accepted students from pre-school to secondary level. These were children facing social problems, those without documents, dropouts and orphans. - FMT