KUCHING: A stateless child was able to obtain his basic education, thanks to Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen.
Dr Yii said that he was successful in getting the D’Wira Educational Association, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to teach the 13-year-old boy the fundamentals of reading, writing, and counting.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) Socialist Youth (DAPSY) chief also noted that the association will focus on two main languages and mathematics before moving on to teach the boy some basic science.
The boy was born without his parents having been legally married, and his mother is not a citizen of Malaysia.
Dr Yii claimed that the youngster was unable to receive a proper education and has never even attended school since he has never had an identification card (IC).
Elaborating, he said the boy’s father was the sole breadwinner of the family, where he previously had a small stall to sell food.
However, due to diabetes as well as other chronic diseases, he has been unable to work for quite some time.
After having his leg amputated, he has been warded in the hospital for more than a month to treat his wounds. He is now taken care of by his wife and sons.
“When I found out about their situation, I tried finding ways to ensure that at least his son gets some form of education and life skills so that he can at least take care of himself in the future.
“I encouraged him to pursue his studies and questioned him about it. He told me he wanted to study so he could grow up to be a better person.
“We will try our best to help the family, and more importantly, we want to ensure that the child gets some basic education. Notwithstanding the fact that we may not have much, we will try our best,” said Dr Yii in a statement.
For the record, the D’Wira Educational Association caters for children over three years old and youths under 21 years old who are in the midst of applying for their nationality or have no proper identity documents.
