Assist schools for immigrant children, govt urged

Posted on July 25, 2013, Thursday

KOTA KINABALU: A witness has proposed in the public hearing by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants that the government, through the education department, should officially recognize and assist individual private schools providing education to children of immigrants.

Founder of Madrasah Al-Hikmah Kota Kinabalu, Yahya Yaacob, in making the suggestion said education was the only way of turning immigrant children into productive and useful citizens.

He added that failure to give them their absolute rights to education could be disastrous to the country in the future, as the children would grow up as outcasts feeling they do not have any stake or interest in the community.

“So, it won’t matter to them what happens in the community, whether crime is rampant or if they are the ones causing the situation,” he said when testifying in the public inquiry here yesterday.

Yahya stressed that education was an universal right of every children and it was the responsibility of everyone to ensure this right was respected or fulfilled, regardless of their citizenship status.

After all, said Yahya, most of children of immigrants were actually born in Sabah after their parents had stayed for many years in the state.

He estimated that 85 to 90 per cent of his students were Sabah-born stateless children, whom never knew nor considered themselves as having any link to their country of origin.

“This are very law abiding people. Sometime I am surprised to read in the newspapers that we are blaming them for all the crimes happening. But that’s how it is. I was an immigrant in England too,

I was one of the ‘criminals’ there too.

“This is not a political issue, this is a human issue. Somehow they are lost in this political mess and these children are the ones getting trampled. This is just sad.

“There is a very sensitive part when you talk about stateless children, because of the stigma and what it means politically to be associated with these people. But people will still help, although they will not come out in the open to declare their deeds,” he said.

Madrasah Al-Hikmah caters for stateless children who could not go to government schools due to the lack of proper documentation.

The school teaches basic subjects such English and Malaysian history to help the children of immigrants assimilate better into the local culture as well as improve their chances in getting employment in the future.

The Commission and Sabah Law Association put on record their appreciation for the school’s effort to address the rights and needs of children, suggesting the school to network with other similar schools and related organizations to improve their effectiveness.