Immigration: We’ve never stopped non-citizens from entering school

Department says kids who are non-citizens can enter school if parents or guardian can produce all documents required by education ministry.

PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department says they have never issued any circular prohibiting children classified as non-citizens from entering schools in the country.

Instead, immigration director-general Mustafar Ali said children with non-citizen status would be allowed to enter school if the parents or guardian could produce all relevant documents required by the education ministry.

“I would like to stress once again that the Immigration Department has never issued any circular prohibiting children classified as non-citizens from entering school (in this country),” he said in a statement here today.

The statement was issued in response to a report that a seven-year-old girl in Seremban was denied admission to a school in Seremban.

She was classified as a non-citizen and did not have a valid passport, which was said to be a requirement for entry to school under a new Immigration Department policy.

Today, the education ministry was reported to have given a special pass for the girl, known as Darshana, to enter Year One at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Rasah Jaya in Seremban. -FMT