PENGURUSAN PENDIDIKAN KANAK-KANAK PELARIAN ROHINGYA DI MALAYSIA: ISU DAN CABARAN

Abstract

The education issue continues to plague the lives of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. They had to face this from the beginning of their arrival up until now, the third generation of this ethnic group, as they did not have the opportunity to follow the formal education system in Malaysia. This will impact the development of this generation's human capital if it continues to be side-lined and is not immediately tackled. Therefore, this study aims to identify the educational background of Rohingya children in Malaysia, especially in alternative education centres, and to analyse the challenges faced by the education centres in managing the education of Rohingya children in Malaysia. This qualitative study uses the focus group interview technique in six selected alternative education centres as the data collection method. The result revealed that the Malaysian government allowed stakeholders to channel aid and protection to the refugees on a humanitarian basis, including managing refugee education, even though Malaysia did not ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol. The operation of alternative education centres is one of the efforts to help the refugees flooding Malaysia. However, these centres have to face various challenges, including weak governance and regulation, discrepancies in the curriculum used, a lack of financial funds, difficulty managing Rohingya children who finish school, as well as the commitment to Malaysian legislation. Accordingly, comprehensive planning and synergy among all parties are required, including the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), local communities and the Rohingya community, to improve education management and support efforts to empower the education of refugees in Malaysia.