The Malaysian Insight

A VOLUNTEER group which provides free education now aims to expand its reach in order to support more children in the Chow Kit area.

Buku Jalanan Chow Kit (BJCK) founder Siti Rahayu Baharin said there were still many children, especially from among the homeless community and those who are stateless, who have no access to any form of education.

Siti Rahayu said BJCK currently hosts about 125 children, and with the expansion by the end of the year, it aims to help more children have access to education.

“From among the 125 children, 45 are stateless. This is the only place for them to go for schooling. 

“We are at a time where even refugees are being accepted to colleges but not stateless children, since they have no legal documents,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Explaining the beginnings of BJCK, Siti Rahayu said it started as a public library in 2015, catering to the needs of children from poor families in the Chow Kit area.

“We noticed that in Chow Kit, there were many soup kitchens where we saw parents lining up with their kids.

“We decided to give these kids books to read while waiting for the food, and eventually we grew bigger,” she said.

When asked if their services were affected during the Covid-19 lockdowns, Siti Rahayu said the group actually fared better than they had expected.

“We had to switch our classes to online learning and we realised most of our students did not have the necessary gadgets.

“We reached out to the public for help and managed to get each and every one of our kids either a tablet or a laptop,” she said.

Fund-raising programmes

BJCK business development manager Luqman Hafiz, 27, meanwhile, said the group has lined up several new projects to raise funds in order to continue providing their services.

“One of the programmes we are currently doing is the Chow Kit Tour whereby we charge a small fee and bring participants to explore and learn about the history of Chow Kit.

“We also do a movie screening on the rooftop of our rented building here in Chow Kit to raise funds,” he said.

According to Luqman, BJCK’s next big project is to open a coffee shop on the ground floor of the same building.

“We hope the coffee shop will be ready to operate by the end of the year. This will also provide job opportunities to the parents of our students and also to the students who are above 18 years old.

“We want this coffee shop to be able to sustain itself and help keep the school running,” he said.

Afiq Rodzi, 26, who is the building manager for BJCK, said renovation was also being carried out in the four-storey building to accommodate up to 200 kids.

“Our renovation works are in stages due to funding issues so it will take some time before they are completed.

“Currently, we are working on securing funds and grants because our cash flow at the moment is not that great due to the ongoing renovation works.

“We plan to get the four-storey building renovated by the end of this year,” he said.

He added that the group took a big risk last year by renting the entire building instead of just the one floor they had been occupying.

“But we are ready to face the challenges and hope there will be something good from this.”

Project-based learning

BJCK’s children development manager Hanif Mahpa, 30, said the subjects that are taught at the centre are Bahasa Melayu, English, mathematics, science, geography and history.

“But we do more project-based learning to cover issues affecting their communities.“We want these kids to understand what their situation is and make sure they are able to cope with that,” he said.

He added that the group also takes the kids for field trips. For instance, the students had just returned from an overnight camping trip.

Hanif added that BJCK also assists students receive education in government schools if they have proper documentation.

“If we are told that a child is not eligible to go to a government school, only then will we enrol the child at BJCK.”

According to UNHCR, there are at least 10,000 people in Peninsular Malaysia who are denied nationality – otherwise labelled as being stateless, with unknown numbers in Sabah and Sarawak.

Those interested to volunteer or assist BJCK may reach out to them. – August 19, 2022.