KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry should provide clarification on the ministry's policy on the fate of stateless children born to Malaysian parents.
In a statement, the non-profit organisation, Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia, said this following reports that a 10 year-old pupil was denied entry to school by the ministry due to citizenship documentation issues.
"We urge the Education Ministry to provide clarification on any new changes and whether stateless children born to Malaysian parents will be denied access to schooling.
"The alarming increase in the population of stateless children in Malaysia is attributed to a discriminatory nationality law.
"This law prohibits Malaysian fathers from transmitting citizenship to their children born before a legal marriage," it said.
It added that the organisation's database indicates that a significant number of recorded stateless individuals are children born to Malaysian fathers who face challenges in obtaining citizenship.
"According to DHRRA's database, over 8,223 recorded stateless persons are children born to Malaysian fathers and adopted children of Malaysians.
"We hope this innocent stateless child will not be targeted due to Malaysia's discriminatory practices which unfairly deny children access to basic rights like education and healthcare."
It said that the law is particularly evident in cases where children, such as Shivaani, are affected by the discriminatory nationality law that prevented her from obtaining Malaysian citizenship through her father, P. Rajheswaran, despite circumstances beyond her control.
Shivaani was a student at SK Taman Seri Pagi in Senawang studying from Year One to Year Three.
However, the school informed the family in March this year that Shivaani could not continue to Year Four due to citizenship documentation issues.