Stateless kids back in school after two-hour protest

Seven stateless children can have a sigh of relief after a nearly two-hour sit-in protest at the Education Ministry headquarters in Putrajaya this afternoon as the ministry agreed to allow them to return to school, for the time being.

Led by PKR veep N Surendran, (left) the children aged between seven to 13, denied schooling due to insufficient documentation from their parents, gathered in front of the education ministry office at 11.30am demanding to see ministry officers to resolve their predicament.

However, their demand was not immediately addressed as most of the officers were atttending Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's annual ministerial address.

Only a low-ranking officer came out to ask Surendran to fill up complaint forms which he rejected, insisting on school registration forms for the children instead.

After more than one hour of waiting, the frustrated human rights counsel together with his charges and colleagues - Lattheefa Koya and R Sivarasa - decided on an impromptu sit-in protest.

They sat down in front of the office, shouting slogans including "turun Muhyiddin!" (step down Muhyiddin) and "buat kerja!" (do your job).

Surendran even threatened to launch an “Occupy Ministry” if the matter was not resolved today.
   
Pointing at the to and fro officers who just came back from the address, Surendran angrily said that the ministry overwhelmed them with red tape.

“This is the headquarters of (national) education. Not a single person came down to deal with the children who were denied their education.”

“We have seen all of the officers walking past. No one is bothered to attend the matter... (this) shows the ‘tidak apa’ attitude of ministry,” he added.

During the 90-minute protest, at least five officers tried to pacify them but to little avail.

Still a long way ahead

Eventually Roziah Abdullah, a senior officer responsible for school management, appeared and ended the protest by handing over to them the school enrolment forms.

PKR activists immediately assisted the children to fill up the form within thirty minutes and handed it over to Roziah.

To a question, she said that the ministry allows undocumented children to study at the government schools if subjected to two conditions:

(a) One of the parents must be a Malaysian citizen, and

(b) The children must obtain their village head’s certification of affirming to be Malaysian children.

As such, Roziah told the crowds that the children could go back to study and that they need to submit the certification from their village’s head.

Surendran, in a press conference later, said that he is “glad” of the ministry’s response.

However, he suggested that the ministry should establish a mobile unit to register the undocumented students.

“(The) seven children can go to school. How about the other thousands of (undocumented) children in the peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak... This is a calamity and a tragedy.”

He warned that should the matter still not be resolved, most of the uneducated children will end up in crime and doing minor labour.