Putrajaya not following policy on education for all children, group laments

 

More than 300,000 children in Malaysia are being denied education as a result of being stateless, refugees, asylum seekers or undocumented, says a group of individuals and organisations.

PETALING JAYA: More than 100 individuals and organisations have appealed to the education ministry to follow its own policies and provide all children access to education regardless of documentation status.

In a statement today, the group of child advocates said many children were still denied education even when there were national policies in place which said that non-citizens should not be denied an education.

“A conservative estimate suggests that more than 300,000 children in Malaysia are currently denied education as a result of being stateless, refugees, asylum seekers or undocumented.

“What is confusing is that this denial of access to education takes place in the face of national policies that support education for all children in Malaysia, regardless of their documentation status,” it added.

The group noted that the National Education Policy stated that primary education was compulsory for all children aged six to 12 years, including non-citizens.

It also noted that the government launched a Zero Reject Policy in 2018 to ensure that all children in the country, including undocumented children, had access to education.

“We would be appalled if the same standard we apply to these children was applied to our children when overseas,” it said.

“When many of us travel to study abroad, we are readily accepted into the education system of many other nations. But we do not offer the same to those who come to our nation.”

The group said Malaysians and the government were “actively fighting for Palestinian children 7,600km away but not fighting for children in our county. It is long overdue that we fix our own backyard”.

It asked why the policies were not being taken seriously and implemented properly.

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“Is this a problem of local ‘little Napoleons’ or a backtracking of policy by the education ministry? Why are schools asking for citizenship documents before admitting children for basic education?” it asked.

It said education was one vehicle for children and families to escape from the “poverty trap”, and that denying education was effectively imprisoning them in that trap.

“Any nation that does not provide basic rights like food, shelter, education and health to all children, regardless of their documented status, is a failed nation,” it said.

The group includes Suhakam’s children’s commissioner Noor Aziah Mohd Awal, the Malaysian Paediatric Association, the National Early Childhood Intervention Council, the Women’s Centre for Change, Yayasan Chow Kit, Family Frontiers, consultant paediatrician Dr Amar-Singh HSS, associate professor Naziaty Mohd Yaacob and activist Peter John Jaban.

Last month, FMT reported that Noor Aziah had urged the federal government to increase allocations to improve children’s access to education. - FMT