‘Stateless kids can study here’
Teo: Education Ministry has started registering them
JOHOR BARU:
The Education Ministry will make it easier for stateless children to get education by enrolling them at government primary schools here, says deputy minister Teo Nie Ching.
She said most primary school pupils were registered through the ministry’s “Ziarah Cakna” programme that was introduced to all parents and children early this year.
“The remaining 2% are stateless children, who are living in poverty and their parents lack information on the educational needs of their children.
“The ministry has already started the process to register stateless children at government schools,” she said after launching a day-care centre at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) here yesterday.
She said guardians or parents of these children would only have to show documents such as birth certificates or a court order that stated their children were born here for them to enter government schools.
Teo also stressed that under the Education Act 1996, it was compulsory for parents or guardians to send their children to primary schools.
On another matter, she said the
ministry encouraged privately-run preschools to register with the Education Department.
Currently, some 47% of children were registered at government-owned preschools while rest
go to private institutions, she said.
“We hope to get as many private preschools to register with the department for them to use our national co-curriculum,” she said at the press conference.