'My granddaughter now citizen, but still needs to pay foreign student fee'

 

A grandfather is frustrated after being required to pay foreign student fees for his granddaughter's schooling even after the Home Ministry approved the 15-year-old's citizenship application last January.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, P Sadanathan, 73, said his granddaughter Mathumitha Deevakaran was a Form Three student at SMK Tunku Sofiah in Alor Setar, Kedah.

"Her mother is an Indonesian citizen and her father is a Malaysian citizen. However, (previously) she and her younger brother did not get citizenship and only had Indonesian passports. All this time, both studied at school using student passes with a payment of RM240 each year.

"On Jan 15 this year, the Home Ministry approved the sister's citizenship application. We then went to Alor Setar’s National Registration Department to apply for a birth certificate.

"The payment has been made and the NRD official there said we have to wait seven to eight months to get the birth certificate," he explained.

However, Deevakaran said the school informed them that they would still have to pay the fees for foreign students if his granddaughter wanted to go to school.

"They said they did not accept the application approval letter and the birth certificate payment slip as proof that she has been approved for citizenship. We are disappointed and saddened by the school's decision," he said.

According to Sadanathan, his salary as an assistant at a restaurant in Alor Setar cannot cover the fee.

"My daily salary is only RM40. I have to support my two grandchildren with a low salary. I still have to pay foreign student fees for Mathumitha's younger brother who still does not have citizenship.

"We hope the Education Ministry will help us," he said.

Malaysiakini has sighted Mathumitha's citizenship application approval letter.

Bureaucratic hurdle

Meanwhile, the United Social Welfare Organization president P Manivanan described the matter as a bureaucratic hurdle.

"This is what we call bureaucracy. Even though the Home Ministry has granted citizenship, some officials still deny her the right to go to school on the grounds of non-payment of foreign student fees.

"The Education Ministry should immediately instruct that Mathumitha be allowed to go to school," he told Malaysiakini.

When contacted, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek promised to resolve the issue.

"Students will go to school. Kedah NRD will take care of it. Done," she told Malaysiakini yesterday.

Sadanathan said that as of now, no party from the Kedah NRD has contacted him. - Mkini