The Malaysian Insight

SCHOOLS for refugees are finding it hard to keep going since reopening their doors with the easing of the movement-control order.

A number of such schools in Kuala Lumpur have already shut down citing lack of funds.

And unless money is found to meet overheads, the Jalan Pudu school run by Alliance of Chin Refugees (ACR) would be following suit, said coordinator James Bawi Thang Bik.

The school will have to close if ACR fails to come up with RM20,000 for operating expenses, he said.

“Three or four schools in Kuala Lumpur closed shop during the MCO. We know this because they asked us to absorb their pupils,” James told The Malaysian Insight.

As it is, he said, there are barely enough resources to sustain the school’s 240 pupils.

“Currently half of our funds comes from Malaysian donors. The rest is from the little school fees we collect.

Pupils pay RM100 monthly and if there’s a sibling, the fee is RM150 for both. A third sibling studies for free.

He said the limited space makes it hard to take in more pupils.

The children of United Nations High Commission for Refugee cardholders, the pupils are mainly from Myanmar. About 10% of them are from Indonesia and Bangladesh. Their ages range from five to 18.

“We have eight classrooms now but we will need funds if we are to expand. We need more classrooms and more teachers,” James said.

The school currently employs nine full-time teachers and have 10 volunteers.

A UNHCR report states that many refugee children, especially girls, will not be going back to school after the break enforced by the coronavirus crisis. Half already stopped schooling before the pandemic struck.

More than 1.8 million, or 48% of refugees of school age are not in school, said the report, based on data from 12 countries, which hose half of the world’s refugee children.  

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi has called for action to support their right to education.

“After everything they have endured, we cannot rob them of their future by denying them an education today,” he said.

EL Shaddai Refugees Learning Centre education coordinator Dr Ng Oi Leng said school fees have been slashed to enable the children to continue schooling.

The preschool and primary school fee has been reduced from RM50 to RM10, while secondary pupils now pay RM50 instead of RM120.

Ng said about 1,000 children attend the centre in Selangor and KL.

“We don’t have schools, but we have about 40 classrooms all over the Klang Valley. They are located in shop lots and the space is mostly given to us free.”

Churches and people also contribute, she said.

For now, the centre is sustainable. She said there is enough to keep the centre going until year-end.

“While there’s been no significant drop (in donations), we don’t know about the future. 

“If we continue to get funding then we will be able to sustain but if not I don’t know (what we’ll do)… maybe close down.” – September 7, 2020.