KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii will assist stateless children through his various platforms in Parliament and speak to the Health Minister to ensure that they are not left out in receiving equal basic treatment, including Covid-19 vaccination.
Having paid a visit to Persatuan Pendidikan D’Wira on Wednesday (Feb 16), he shared that the association presently has 66 students ranging from age four to 17, of which 38 are stateless children.
He said these stateless children had no place to go to obtain proper education as they were not accepted in government schools.
“On top of that, due to the lack of identification documents for stateless children, their application for the Covid-19 vaccine has been rejected.
“The founder of the association is currently actively working through various channels to fight for these stateless children with the authorities to ensure that they too can get the vaccine and receive proper protection,” he said on Wednesday.
He said Persatuan Pendidikan D’Wira is a non-governmental educational organisation founded by a couple who are trained teachers and passionate about education in the city.
“They have been established for more than 12 years and aim to provide for school-aged children from disadvantaged families, especially poor and stateless children, to ensure they also can enjoy learning and educational opportunities.”
Dr Yii had paid a visit to the association to present new school uniforms to some of the students at the centre so they could prepare for the new semester. He added that each student received a new set of uniform.
“We hope that this would not only help the families of the children who are of lower socioeconomic status, but more importantly encourage these children to study hard and be proud to wear new clothes to school.”
He said most of the students there went to nearby schools such as SK Jalan Arang, SK Stapok, and so on.
“While some of the students do have the opportunity to go to government schools, they still come back to the centre to get extra tutoring to ensure they can keep up with their studies.
“At the beginning, many of such students didn’t really know how to read or write even though they are at the age to go secondary school.”
He said this was why the dedicated teachers and helpers at the centre helped guide and teach these students based on their learning abilities to ensure they do not get left behind even further.
“Education is so important as it is the best way to help these children to break the cycle of poverty in their family.”
