‘Please, let him go to school’
Couple fear red tape will hinder adopted child’s right to education
Couple fear red tape will hinder adopted son’s right to education.
PETALING JAYA: The parents of Mark Cyril Holloway are anxious to know whether their adopted child will be allowed to go to school soon.
This is because it has been three weeks since school started, and Stephen Charles Holloway and Lam Swee Theam are worried that red tape may hinder their seven-yearold son’s right to education.
“We were happy to hear the recent announcements by the Education Minister and we even got a support letter from Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan.
“However, when we informed the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Education Department of this, we were told to wait as it had not received any formal directive on the announcement,” Lam told The Star.
She added that the family was in limbo when the Education Department called on Jan 6 to say that their son would need a passport to enrol in school as Mark is classified as a non-citizen.
“The officer from the Education Department said they could not process Mark’s application to go to school because he does not have a passport,” she said.
However, the second application for Mark to become a Malaysian
citizen is still pending.
When Lam called the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Education Department again on Jan 8, she was told Mark must at least have a citizenship certificate or an international passport for the department to consider a place for him in school.
She questioned the need to show Mark’s international passport when she and her husband are both Malaysian citizens and legally
adopted Mark with his citizenship pending.
She said she was seeking a blackand-white response from the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Education Department on the status of her son’s case and when he would be allowed to attend school.
Mark was adopted by Lam, a kindergarten founder, and Holloway, a lawyer-turned-quality controller, when he was three weeks old.
Lam said she contacted the department again after reading The Star’s front-page report on Friday about seven-year-old G. Darshana.
Like Mark, Darshana is an adopted child who was initially denied enrolment in a public school, but was later able to do so after she was given a special pass.
“It is good news for us too, as Mark’s case is similar to Darshana’s case.
“I was also delighted when I read media reports quoting Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying that children awaiting approval for citizenship will get ‘ blanket approval’ to attend school,” she added.
Mark has already secured a place at SK Bukit Damansara, where his brother and cousins are studying.
“The school said there is a place for Mark, but it needs the green light from the Education Ministry,” Lam said.
It was reported that several stateless children were told to get passports in order to be enrolled at public schools.
On Friday, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said stateless children are allowed to enrol and attend school pending their citizenship application.
The Immigration Department has also denied issuing any circular prohibiting children classified as non-citizens from enrolling in schools.