'Dad, why can't Shara go back to school?' pleads 6-year-old Rohingya child

"Assalamualaikum dad, all the other kids can go back to school, why can’t people like us?

“Foreigners cannot go to school? We cannot go too? It’s been so long since I’ve gone, since I’ve seen my teachers.”

Those were the words of Shara (not her real name), a six-year-old child, in a series of text messages sent to her father.

Shara’s family, Rohingyas living in Malaysia, claimed the child had been disallowed from returning to pre-school with other Malaysian children due to her status as a foreigner.

The child had been attending pre-school or tabika under the Community Development Department (Kemas) for three years.

Known as a smart student among teachers and friends, Shara is fluent in Bahasa Malaysia and can read the Quran.

She wants to be a doctor, to help the poor and underprivileged, in light of her own hardships as a Rohingya child.

However, she was unable to return when the government reopened pre-schools on July 1 after her family was told that Health Ministry’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) allegedly prohibited people like her to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Her father, who wanted to be known as Harris, 29, said his daughter cries constantly at being left out of school since it reopened several weeks ago.

“She is still a child, she doesn’t understand what is happening. She cries because she wants to go to school to see her teachers.

“Other kids (Malaysians) can go to school, but she can’t. We try to console her but it doesn’t work.

“She also does not understand the situation faced by the Rohingya community in Malaysia,” he told Malaysiakini.

Malaysiakini has attempted to contact the tabika as well as the Health and Education Ministries for a response to the regulations regarding the status of foreign children in government schools.

Harris, a UNHCR refugee cardholder has lived in Ipoh, Perak since 2018.

The father-of-two, who suffers from kidney stones, survives by doing odd jobs such as cutting grass and cleaning drains.

‘Same as mosque ruling’

On Shara’s case, Harris said he was told she could not attend school on June 30, a day before classes were set to reopen.

“Your child cannot come to school.

“This is our procedure, the same as how foreigners cannot go to the mosque or surau to pray,” read text messages sent to Harris which was sighted by Malaysiakini.

However, there was no mention on the status of foreign students on the National Security Council's (NSC) main website regarding the education sector SOPs.

Meanwhile, Harris is pleading for the government to allow Shara and other refugee children to continue their education here.

“Education is the one thing that can truly help our people in the future,” he added. - Mkini