KOTA KINABALU: Former state education director Datuk Dr Muhiddin Yusin suggested that a mechanism be set in place to allow children of illegal immigrants access to education.
“Personally, I believe these children too have the right to education. In fact I want to help them myself but I don’t have the means to do so,” he said at the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants hearing here yesterday.
Muhyiddin said everyone would agree that every child has the right to a better future and giving them education is a vital part in protecting this right.
“By denying them education we are not only denying them their right but it is also a reason to be concerned that they may grow up as an unproductive or even negative element in society, for instance becoming criminals.
“I would suggest that the government make the effort so that these children can be given their right,” he said, without giving any specific recommendation as to how to do this.
He said this when asked by conducting officer Manoj Kurup what suggestion he could give the Commission on the issue.
Earlier, Manoj said it was concerning to learn that many young children at refugee centres in Sabah could not go to school because their parents do not have proper documents.
To a follow-up question, Muhiddin said as far as the state Education Department was concerned, no children of illegal immigrants were registered in the government or government-funded schools.
He said the schools were required to only accept students who met certain criteria with verified documents to support their enrolment.
Muhiddin said the existing directive from the Education Ministry clearly stated that only children with Malaysian citizenship or qualified Malaysian children can be accepted in government schools.
He explained that qualified Malaysian children were those with non-citizen status but one of their parents is a Malaysian, and must produce a declaration signed by the village chief to confirm the status of their parents when enrolling.
However, he said whether the documents used to prove the citizenship of the students or their parents were genuine or not was beyond the capacity of the school to determine.
He also noted that as far as he knew, no students in Sabah had been expelled or had their application to enroll rejected due to suspected fake documents.
Muhiddin also informed that there were more than half a million students at primary and secondary schools in Sabah as of end of last year, with only 1,036 of them categorized as qualified non-citizens.
To a separate question, he said only the Indonesians were allowed to have a special school to cater for their citizens in Sabah.