MP highlights importance of concerted efforts to enable stateless kids attend public schools

MIRI (July 1): Miri MP Chiew Choon Man has called upon all parties to work together towards enabling ‘stateless’ children attend public school.

In a statement, he said that he had identified three main categories on non-citizen children who required different solutions in applying for schools in the district.

“Yesterday (on Friday), the Miri parliamentary service centre team and I held a discussion at the Miri District Education Office (PPD) to discuss the issue of school admission for children without complete identification documents for various reasons.

“The first category involves children whose one or both parents are non-citizens. The second category is for children whose parents are local residents, but do not have identification documents.

“The third category involves children who have no information or documents, where their parents are Malaysians, but for various reasons, the children do not have documents such as birth certificates.”

Chiew pointed out the issue as a public concern, as ‘education is a basic human right’.

He said it was vital for every child to go to school as it would help to prevent social issues from arising, as a result of lack of education.

“However, due to certain family factors, eventually there are a few children who are excluded from mainstream education.”

He added that at the same time, he was aware that the decision to enrol stateless children or children without complete documentation to school would be subject to the existing laws.

“I will continue to cooperate with the PPDs and other agencies involved, and hopefully, through the effort of all parties and support from other government agencies, we would be able to solve this problem,” he said.