‘IT WAS A LETTER, NOT A CIRCULAR’

Letter in response to Education Ministry seeking clarification on school enrolment, says Immigration D-G

THE Immigration Department has denied issuing a circular preventing stateless children from being enrolled in schools.

Its director-general, Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, clarified that the document, which was mistakenly regarded as a circular, was actually a letter responding to questions from the Education Ministry.

“It was not a circular. Only a letter that the department sent to the ministry to answer some questions.

“On Nov 28, the ministry’s Daily School Management Division sent a letter to us to clarify issues related to status of children.

“In the letter, the ministry wanted to know the categories and schedule of children who were born in and outside of Malaysia after Malaysia Day, whether they require a passport or valid travel document to enrol in government schools.

“We replied on Dec 28, explaining that foreigners born here or abroad are required to have passports.

“Malaysian children don’t need to have passports, while children without citizenship but have applied for it are required to have passports.”

Mustafar said the Immigration Department had nothing to do with matters involving the enrolment of students.

“That is under the Education Ministry’s jurisdiction. Whether the child is stateless, only the ministry can solve his or her enrolment issue.

“In short, stateless children can attend school as long as they have all the documents needed by the ministry,” he said.

According to the Education Ministry’s circular, stateless children are allowed to enrol in government schools as long as one of the parents is Malaysian and have obtained a confirmation or acknowledgement letter that the child is under the care of Malaysians.

Mustafar was responding to a report on Jan 9 about a 7-yearold girl in Seremban, who was stopped from attending school although she had registered with the Education Ministry.

An English daily reported that the girl’s adoptive parents were believed to have been told by the Immigration Department that she required a passport to be enrolled at school.