Friday, December 11, 2009

Education for children of refugees

The Star, Friday December 11, 2009

Ed for children of refugees in Malayisaucation

THE Education Ministry is looking into the possibility of allowing
children of refugees to attend classes in government schools.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said that
currently, these children were not getting a proper education.

“They are educated mainly by volunteers from non-governmental
organisations within their own immigrant community with the advice of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” he told Tan Tee
Beng (PKR - Nibong Tebal).

He said the national education system could not accept children of
illegal immigrants or refugees.

The ministry’s regulations on these children are stipulated under
Unesco’s rules, he added.

To a supplementary question from Hamim Samuri (BN - Ledang), Dr Mohd
Puad said the ministry had also detected cases of parents who did not
send their children to school for fear of being discovered that they did
not have valid documents.

He said investigations were being carried out to determine the
seriousness of the problem.

His ministry, he said, had issued a circular last March stating that
children whose parents did not possess valid identification documents
could still attend government schools.

However, he said, their parents must provide supporting letters about
their status from their village head.

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