KUCHING: The state government is thankful for the cooperation and assistance rendered to solve the issue of stateless children and children without proper identification thus preventing them from attending school.
The assistance was made possible by a multi-departmental effort involving the Education Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the State Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry.
With the multi-agency effort, 766 children who are either stateless or awaiting documentation on their nationality status will be allowed to attend school in both government and government-aided schools throughout the state.
State Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah revealed this during a press conference yesterday after a courtesy visit and meeting with officials from the Education Ministry’s Planning and Policy Division.
“We are pleased with the assistance rendered by the federal government and to give credit where it is due, I say thank you to the Education Ministry and the Home Ministry for solving the issue pertaining to the 766 children,” said Fatimah.
“These cases are the ones that we are aware of and there are still many other children out there without formal education due to their status,” she continued.
Fatimah revealed that the issue of statelessness did not just involve the children but often it stemmed from parents who lacked proper documentation to prove their citizenship.
“In the interior, we have come across many cases where the parents of the child themselves don’t have birth certificates and that in turn affects the child.”
“Our ministry will be making a courtesy call on Home Minister Tan Sri MuhyiddinYasin this Friday, and we hope to continue efforts to solve the issue of statelessness in the state with the ministry’s help,” she said.
Fatimah explained that there were mainly three categories of children who were previously unable to attend school namely children without documentation, children whose documentations are pending and children whose parents do not have documentation.
She urged parents with children who fall in any of the three categories to come forward to register their children for school as soon as possible.
Also present at the press conference were senior officials from the state Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry.
