Education for every child
Alternative Learning Centres in Sabah provide education to children left out of the formal schooling system.
“Saya sangat gembira kerana banyak pelajaran boleh tambah ilmu."
SANDAKAN, SABAH, July 2024 – Nur, aged 10, looks too small for her age. She sits among her friends on the floor of a small, crowded wooden hut that makes up the entire school. When asked what makes her happy, she says “I’m happy because I get to learn and attain more knowledge”.
The school is built on stilts on the shores of a small island, 45 minutes by boat from Sandakan. In the early days, classes were held in the home of one of the villagers, and as it grew, they had classes on the wooden walkways. It was only later that they received support from a non-profit organization to build the school.
The children are hungry to learn. Their parents, seeing the need, looked for a teacher. Cikgu Risal, the brother of a woman who married into the village, was asked to set up a school. He was previously working in a sawmill factory. Heeding the call, he moved to the island, and has been teaching 36 students aged 5 to 17 for the last three years.
There is a national school in a neighbouring island, but these children cannot attend. Most of them are stateless. They do not have the necessary papers that would allow them to enrol in a national school.
Left out and left behind
Opak Lestari is not unique. It is estimated that there are about 300 Alternative Learning Centres (ALCs) in Sabah though the actual numbers are not known. These ALCs cater to children who cannot attend public schools, and for whom private schools are too expensive. Their only access to education are ALCs offered by civil society organizations, community, and faith-based groups, as well as concerned individuals. These schools lack certification, accreditation, or commercial value. The schools are crowded, but it is the only way these children are able to have a semblance of an education.
“My students are proud to tell me that they can communicate with their friends by text. They don’t have to send voice notes,” said Cikgu Dayang, the 20-year-old teacher of Teratak Ilmu in Sandakan. Her ALC is an extension of her house, 100 metres from an asphalt processing plant. Her parents were very supportive of the school, with her father organizing a gotong-royong with his friends to build the extension, funded by a non-profit organization from Singapore.
Children who attend ALCs consist of Bajau Laut, a nomadic maritime community living in the waters bordering Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. There are also children of Filipino refugees, and children of irregular migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines. Their status as undocumented or stateless persons puts them on the same boat, bringing them to the ALCs.
“I used to have up to eighty students, but most of them have left the village after they heard news that the village is marked for demolition. Many have moved to camps in oil palm plantations,” continued Dayang. Families who are undocumented or stateless tend to be more nomadic, moving to better economic opportunities and moving away from risk of detention or crackdowns due to their status.
Hungry to learn
“It is a misconception that these communities don’t care for education. They want their children to learn and gain knowledge. They are the ones asking for a school for their children,” explained Wadzkir, a co-founder of Cahaya Society.
Cahaya Society is an organization dedicated to providing education to stateless children through advocacy, community, and solidarity. They support small independent ALCs in their network by providing training and resources for teachers, connecting schools with funding, and running programmes such as disaster risk reduction, physical education, as well as health and hygiene classes. Cahaya Society also run an ALC.
The syllabus at Cahaya Learning Centre includes basic reading, writing, and counting, as well as religion, philosophy, and music. Ukuleles line the walls of their classroom and they have a self-composed school song. The children are proud to have studied the philosophy of great thinkers such as Ibu Kartini and Bruce Lee. The students at Cahaya Learning Centre are eloquent and clear in their advocacy for better education for stateless children.
“Children like me cannot go to government schools. But children like me, we too have hopes, dreams, and challenges to overcome. But now Cahaya Society has opened this school, and they have taught us to read, write, and count. If adults want us to be productive members of society, they need to also give us an education,” shared Shera, a 17-year-old alumna of Cahaya Learning Centre who helps as a teaching assistant to younger students, while still learning.
Cahaya Society also has a skills development programme. Mothers from the community help train the students in sewing. They make t-shirts, tote bags and small pouches to raise funds for themselves, and for the school.
Filling a need
While ALCs are the only access to education available for these children right now, it is not enough.
“A child’s migration status should never be a barrier to accessing the unequivocal right to education. It is imperative that all children, no matter their status, be able to follow a formal, recognized curriculum all the way through pre-primary, primary and secondary education - beyond just basic education. There must be a better system that includes all children,” asserted Azlina Kamal, UNICEF Malaysia Education Specialist.
“Governments, communities, civil society, and the private sector can work collectively to develop policy reforms that make access to education possible for all children. All children should have access to quality learning through an education system that does not leave any child behind,” continued Azlina.
Shera shares her hopes for the future: “My dream is for all children such as myself, who couldn’t read and count before, to be able to go to school. They are free to learn and are no longer ignorant or involved in crime. That is my hope”.
Every child has the right to quality and inclusive education so they can learn and thrive. It is our duty to help them enjoy this right. Meanwhile, groups like Cahaya Society and teachers such as Cikgu Risal and Cikgu Dayang, show us how the vision of education for all is possible.
