KUALA LUMPUR: Suhairyzal Majid is the epitome of a successful Orang Asli student who has done well academically despite living in the interior and having to make do with limited facilities.
A Form Four student at Sekolah Menengah Sains Tuanku Jaafar in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, the 16-year-old’s siblings have also done well for themselves.
Suhairyzal and his family belong to the Temuan ethnic group and they are from Kampung Orang Asli Guntur, situated about 38 kilometres from Kuala Pilah. His six older brothers and sisters are all graduates and are now working as a pharmacist, bank officer, accountant, engineer, teacher and doctor.
This Orang Asli family’s academic success is ample proof that living in the interior regions is no longer an excuse not to go to school and get an education.
In fact, nothing is impossible if one has the steely determination to make good in life, as Suhairyzal and his siblings have proven.
Suhairyzal is among 44 Orang Asli students whose excellent academic performance has earned them a place at fully residential schools nationwide.
Another 62 Orang Asli children are currently placed at MARA Junior Science Colleges and cluster schools in various parts of the country. The cluster schools are centres of excellence that focus on niche areas like information and communications technology, sciences, music, sports and languages.
Suhairyzal, who is the seventh in his family of eight children, said not once did he feel embarrassed about his ethnic origins and he, in fact, took pride in being an Orang Asli who was capable of competing with students belonging to other races.
He received his early education at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tengkek, located not far from his village. He scored five As in his UPSR (Ujian Peperiksaan Sekolah Rendah) which made him eligible for a place in a fully residential science school.
Last year, he scored seven As and two Bs in the PT3 examination which left him a little disappointed.
“I was expecting nine As but ended up with only seven As. This failure has spurred me to target for better results in the SPM (Sijil Pelajaraan Malaysia) exam next year,” he told Bernama, when met recently at an empowerment programme for Orang Asli students studying at fully residential schools that was held at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Selangor.
Suhairyzal had resolved to do well in school after seeing the hardship his family endured as his father was an odd job worker who earned a paltry RM500 a month while his mother was a housewife.
“I knew the only way to get out of poverty was by getting a good education,” he said, adding that his older siblings also drummed into him the importance of giving priority to education.
Suhairyzal, who wants to pursue computer engineering after SPM, hopes to extend a helping hand to Orang Asli children who are weak in their studies.
“The drop-out rate among them is high and many of them have zero IT (information technology) knowledge. In fact, some of them don’t even know what a computer is, let alone how to use it,” he said, adding that after he has achieved his ambition he hoped to help his community to become IT-literate so that they too can enjoy the fruits of progress.
Only one per cent of the 14,000 Orang Asli students studying at secondary schools all over the country are categorised as outstanding with great potential for success.
According to the Education Ministry’s findings in 2013, only 20 per cent of Orang Asli students completed their secondary school education compared to the national average of 72 per cent.
And, only 61 per cent of pupils at primary schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan Asli) catering to Orang Asli children managed to pass all the core subjects, compared to the national average of 87 per cent.
Thirty-five per cent of Sekolah Kebangsaan Asli are categorised by the Education Ministry as Band 6 and 7 schools due to their poor performance. Only one per cent of mainstream schools fall within these two bands.
A round-table conference organised by the Education Ministry’s Education Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU) in 2016 resolved to, among other things, increase the number of Orang Asli students placed at fully residential schools.
The unit went on to collaborate with UPM and the Orang Asli Development Department to implement various initiatives to empower students from indigenous communities, one of which was the empowerment programme for Orang Asli students studying at fully residential schools.
UPM Faculty of Human Ecology senior lecturer Dr Mohd Roslan Rosnan said the empowerment programme consisted of three phases, the first phase of which was conducted recently and focused on mentoring sessions and attitude and personality formation, as well as learning styles and appreciating values and culture. Counselling and peer group guidance were also part of the programme.
“The main problem of the Orang Asli students is their lack of self-confidence,” said Mohd Roslan, adding that they were too timid to make themselves noticed even though they were brilliant.
He went on to cite the example of an Orang Asli student whose SPM results were outstanding and was offered a scholarship by Bank Negara Malaysia.
“He turned down the offer simply because he didn’t have confidence in his grasp of English.
“We are helping them (Orang Asli students) to try to overcome this inferiority complex that they are suffering from so that they can go forward and no longer feel left out,” he said.
The second phase of the empowerment programme for the Orang Asli students will be held in September in Pangkor, Perak, which will also see the participation of their parents, while the third phase will take place next January at the UPM campus. – Bernama
Mohd Roslan said they also plan to select some of the top-scoring Orang Asli students to act as mentors to their brethren studying at the various Sekolah Kebangsaan Asli.
“This will motivate the younger ones to follow in the older students’ footsteps,” he said, adding that the success stories of the Orang Asli students would be compiled into a book to inspire the children of indigenous communities.
Three years ago, Mohd Roslan made a comparative study of the Orang Asli communities of Malaysia and Australia’s Aboriginal people as part of his doctoral studies and found that the indigenous people down under were more advanced in various aspects including education.
Educational empowerment was the foundation of the success of the Aboriginal people, he said, and they have amongst them many trained teachers who were tasked with teaching and educating the children in the indigenous communities.
During the 1970s when the Aboriginal people faced discrimination in seeking treatment at hospitals, they went on to increase the number of doctors and nurses among them.
“The educated people and professionals among them then went on to contribute to society and helped their community to progress.
“In Malaysia, unfortunately, the Orang Asli people who have made it big live in the city and are reluctant to give back to their community. One of the reasons for this is that they don’t want the people to be dependent on them,” said Mohd Roslan.
Also, frequent policy changes and the failure to focus on the target groups have hindered efforts to empower the Orang Asli, he said.
“The (Orang Asli) people themselves should change their attitude towards education and realise how important it is for their future generations,” he added. – Bernama
