KUALA BERANG, Jan 11 — A stateless child’s application to enrol into Year One at a government-funded school is being reviewed, said Terengganu State Education Department (JPNT) director Shafruddin Ali Hussien.
He said the decision on the application would be known next week.
He added that in the case of children of non-citizens, wanting to study at a fully-funded government school they would have to pay a levy according to Financial Circular No. 4/2000 and Education Regulation (Approved Fees) (Foreign Students Attendance) 1995.
“The annual fee is RM120 for primary schools and RM240 for secondary schools. These children are also not eligible for the Textbook Loan Scheme (SPBT),” he said when contacted by Bernama to comment on the matter.
Indonesian citizen Katrina Lukas, 33, who is the mother of the child, said an attempt to register her seven-year-old daughter at a primary school here on the first day of school this year was rejected by the school’s management due to her stateless status.
“I am confused because some people say as a United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cardholder she is entitled to education. I do not know what the rules are to get my child accepted into school,” she told Bernama.
Her husband Shobie Ahmad Abul Bashar, 33, who is a Rohingya refugee, is also a UNHCR cardholder and had settled in Terengganu for more than seven years, she added.
She said her husband had referred the matter to JPNT adding that she had to enrol her daughter at a kindergarten again so as not to miss on schooling. — Bernama
