There is a growing concern among the Rohingya community in Penang that their children would end up as beggars or be involved in vice activities due to the lack of education opportunities.

It is estimated that out of the 15,000 refugees, mostly from Myanmar living in Penang, 5,000 are begging on the streets.

"Without education, my children have no future, not in this country nor in a third country which we may be sent to," said Mohd Annam (right in photo), a Rohingya refugee living in Penang with his wife and two children, a boy aged 9 and a girl, 7.

"We tried many times to register our children in local schools but we were always rejected," added the 54 year-old contractor who has lived in Penang since 1992.

Annam carries a UNCHR refugee card but he and his Padang-born Indonesian wife Rosnida Ramlan, 33, are sad that they cannot improve the lives of their children, Arfan and Alijah.

"It's sad because even in Myanmar, our community does not have the opportunity to further our education to the highest level even though we have good results in our school examination," he told Malaysiakini when met at a Hari Raya open house organised by the Butterworth-based Life Bridge Learning Center.

Life is better here than Myanmar

Annam said his life is much better here compared to in Myanmar due to the unending oppression of his kind by the authorities.

He also claimed hat he continues to be harassed by the police for not carrying his UNHCR card or when he is caught riding a motorcycle without license.

"I always need to keep between RM20-RM100 in my pocket just in case I have to pay coffee money, but I cannot complain," he quipped.

Rosnida chipped in. "We have to accept our fate as it is wrong to ride a bike without license but it is not that we do not want to apply for one, we are not allowed to."

"But our lives are not without fear. Once the whole family, including our two kids, were detained and sent to the Juru detention camp because we were caught not having a license," she said.

"Needless to say we suffered there, as the place was crowded, there was no proper food and my children fell sick," she added.

Annam and Rosnida are on the waiting list of refugees to be sent to a third country and the couple has been interviewed twice by UNCHR for a possible resettlement in the United States.

They are called the "undocumented migrant" as Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on the Rights of Refugees.

Annam, like many of his community members, would rather go home to Myanmar or live in Malaysia, as this is a Muslim country.

“We have no choice but to seek refuge in a third country. It would have been good if we could remain here as we have become accustomed to your culture," he said.

"This is why education for our children is so important. If we are sent to America, for example, how do we catch up, our children would be left far behind in their studies, "he lamented.

Public can help make a difference

But thanks to the Life Bridge Learning Centre, their kids, and 70 others, between ages six and 15, attend school from 8.30am to 1pm, like normal children, and are taught English, Mathematics and Art by 11 volunteers, including a Korean woman.

The centre, housed in a three-storey building in Taman Inderawasih, was founded in 2011 as a school for the urban poor by four individuals, who felt the dire need to prepare these children for the future, in case they are sent to a receiving country.

The founders, who are the centre's board members, are Pastor Albert Tan, Meng Eng from the PsALM Ministry, Melanie Hurlburt from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and K Sudhagaran Stanley, a social activist formerly involved in migrant work with the Catholic-based Penang Office of Human Development

Stanley is the coordinator for the Migration working group and chairs the Episcopal Commission for Migrants in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

"The children (and their parents) have no future here. Apart from not being able to enrol in local schools, the communities face a myriad of problems like expensive healthcare, poor employment and bad bosses who don't pay their salaries; they can't take up their cases as they are undocumented," said Stanley.

“They often face arrest; there are cases where Rohingya women and their infants were arrested in the hospital and taken to the Juru detention camp, one can only imagine their suffering," added the representative of Jump (Jaringan Migrant dan Pelarian).

Stanley (left) said since Rohingya parents and their children would be resettled in a third country, the center would prepare them to face their new challenges.

"Some of the refugee children here are now aged 17 and growing.

"We do not want them to remain illiterate and without jobs, we do not want them to end up on the streets, as beggars or become involved in criminal activities.

"These are the reasons why we felt the need to set up the Life Bridge Learning Center," he said.

Stanley said parents paid a tiny sum of RM20 - for daily transportation by van and lunch boxes - to help run the center which needs about RM10,000 monthly to operate.

He added that the public can help by volunteering of sponsoring a child at RM120 per month.

"We are all responsible for each other and if everyone can do their part, no matter how big or small, we can ensure that no Rohingya children would end up on the street, begging or involved in criminal activities," he said.