Speaking at a forum to launch a policy paper titled “Contextualising Education Policies to Empower Orang Asli Children” today, researcher Rusalina Idrus said although there was an increase of 42.3% in the number of Orang Asli students completing Form 5 in 2021, dropouts due to long distances between their villages and schools, and financial constraints remain as issues.

“Some students drop out to find work in order to support their family, others simply don’t have the finances to afford school uniforms, books and school lunches,” she said.

Rusalina added that Orang Asli children also face verbal and physical bullying from their peers as well as discrimination from teachers, causing them to leave school.

“A lack of representation of Orang Asli culture and history in the national curriculum also leads to students disengaging with the teaching material as they feel they cannot relate to it,” she said.

Rusalina urged the education ministry to incorporate Orang Asli culture and history in the national syllabus.

“This will not only encourage the engagement of Orang Asli students in classes, but also educate all students on the values and contributions of these indigenous communities.”

Although issues remain, IDEAS research director Wan Ya Shin said there are existing initiatives to tackle the problems.

“There are initiatives such as the ‘Program Intervensi Khas Murid Orang Asli dan Peribumi’ and the Sekolah Model Khas Komprehensif that look to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills of students, and prevent students transitioning from Standard 6 to Form 1 from dropping out,” she said.

Wan added that while these policies had good intentions, better implementation was still needed.

“The schools we spoke to when conducting our study either haven’t implemented these programmes or their teachers have yet to attend the training.”