LEGAL group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today urged the government to streamline and clarify its nationwide policy for equal access to education, including stateless children.

LFL said in a statement that the government must honour its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Malaysia, having ratified the convention, recognises the right of children to education on the basis of equal opportunity, as per Article 28,” said LFL co-ordinator, Zaid Malek.

“Hence, despite the reservation to Article 28(1)(a) on making primary education compulsory and available free to all, this does not abrogate the government’s duty to give equal access to education to stateless children.”

The government must bear its obligation under Article 3 of the convention, which states that the best interests of the child, including those who are stateless, must be the primary consideration, he added.

LFL referred to recent news reports on the prerequisite for stateless children to produce valid identification documentation for enrolment in government schools.

“We attribute this to the lack of a clear policy by the federal government, where certain states have apparently imposed additional requirements for enrolment, such as the production of passports, before a stateless child can study in government schools.”

This will effectively deprive every stateless child of access to education, Zaid said.

“Depriving any child of this right is inhumane, and for stateless children, this is especially dire as, without any formal education, they will be further disenfranchised and unable to acquire any semblance of a secure future.”

Earlier this week, politicians and activists slammed the Penang Education Department for demanding that stateless children provide a passport or approved Malaysian citizenship status to register for school.

In 2018, under the Pakatan Harapan administration, the federal government had permitted stateless children to enter public schools with a birth certificate, adoption certificate or any court order. – February 7, 2021.