KUALA LUMPUR: The Zero Reject Policy to allow pupils with no proper documentation to have access to education will not jeopardise the opportunity for other Malaysian children to obtain education.
Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said this is because the planned policy will only be for prospective pupils from Malaysian parents or where at least one of the parents is a citizen.
“The requirements for entry (into national schools) is that one of the children’s parent is a Malaysian citizen. The parents need to get a confirmation letter from their village chief...
“After the letter is issued, then the children would be allowed to go to school. Later, they would need to go to the state National Registration Department (NRD)," Maszlee said.
“I wish to give my guarantee that this initiative does not jeopardise the schooling opportunities and facilities for local students nationwide, including in Sabah.
“The Ministry is responsible in providing sufficient education facility to support the needs of pupils of government schools.
“As I have mentioned many times in the Dewan (Rakyat), the Education Ministry will from time to time make sure that facilities in Sabah, Sarawak and rural areas are not neglected," he said during the Minister’s Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was answering a question from Ma’mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan) over whether the initiative to enrol children with insufficient documentation next year would affect the learning and placement of existing students in schools.
On Oct 30, Maszlee was reported to have said that the ministry would implement the Zero Reject policy in stages next year to ensure special needs students and children without proper documentation to have access to education.
Meanwhile in response to a supplementary question from Ma’mun, Maszlee said that the ministry would make sure that cases of “floating students” would not happen following the entry of students with no proper documentation into schools.
The minister said that the ministry is in the process of repairing and upgrading school facilities to ensure there are no “floating students.”
“We will ensure that students remain in their classes and no longer ‘floating’,” Maszlee said.
The phemonena of “floating” is where there are insufficient number of classes in a school and students take turns using the same classroom.