Harvest Centre Borneo Alternative Learning Centres in Sabah

1. in collaboration
Majlis Keselamatan Negera (MKN)
National Security Council (NSC)

3. Harvest Centre Borneo in
collaboration with Dignity for
Children Foundation (Harvest
Training Centre), is a private
and an affinity network of
foundations, societies, NGOs and
learning centres for children
alternative education.

4. The purpose of Harvest Centre
Borneo is to help advance the
development and education
agendas by improving strategic
analyses and thinking, informing
and assisting their funding and
providing opportunities for
collective learning and action.

5. Harvest Centre Borneo’s focus on
the Community Alternative Learning
Centres for out-of-school children:
namely, children of Filipino
migrant and undocumented
migrants, children of Indonesian
migrants and undocumented
children of mix Sabahan
parentage in Sabah.

6. The Malaysian Government does
not have a policy or guidelines for
the provision of education for non-
Malaysian citizens.
However, the government has
welcomed initiatives by the private
sector, NGOs, civil societies and
individuals in providing these children
with an education.

7. A report submitted to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
in 2009, Malaysia had reiterated:
In full compliance with its treaty obligation under
the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child),
all children in Malaysia are not denied access
to education.
The Government also constantly engages with
international organisations such as UNICEF and
UNHCR, and civil societies, to ensure that children
of illegal immigrants attend informal classes to
be conducted by NGOs, such as, through
community-based schooling.
(Item 38 of Page 8 of NATIONAL REPORT SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE
WITH PARAGRAPH 15 (A) OF THE ANNEX TO HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
RESOLUTION 5/1 - Malaysia

8. In Malaysia, education and living
skills opportunities for street children,
refugees, stateless children,
undocumented children, immigrants
and children living in plantations are
available in a vastly diverse and
sporadic learning centres provided by
individuals, community, NGOs and
faith-based groups and partners of
Harvest Centre Borneo.

9. Universal Declaration of Human Rights*
Article 26 states that ‘everyone has the
right to education’. Education is increasingly
viewed as the “4th pillar” or “central pillar”
of humanitarian response, together with the
pillars of nourishment, shelter and health
services.
Access to education is a basic human right
and is linked to poverty reduction,
economic growth and better lives for
children, families, and communities.
(adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA Res 217 A(III) (UDHR)

10. The Sabah Immigrant Story
The influx of Filipino refugees many whom are
Muslims to Sabah between 1972 and 1984 was
a result of the civil war in the Mindanao region
in the southern part of Philippines since the late
60s.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on I
mmigrants in Sabah concluded that the armed
conflict and economic factors that assures of
better jobs and improved quality of life - were
the main motives for migration to Sabah by
the Southern Filipino Community.

11. Statelessness is the most acute violation of the right to a nationality; a well-entrenched
principle of international humanrightslaw.
The stateless are vulnerable to discriminatory and unequaltreatment in accessing
and enjoying all other rights they are entitled to, fromtherightstoeducation and
healthcare, to the freedom ofassociation and expression, the right to liberty and
security of the person and the freedom ofmovement.
•Questions about my past: How did I become stateless and what is being done to
protect other children from this problem?
•Questions about my present: Why am I disadvantaged and denied access to basic
rights, and what is being done to protect me?
•Questions about my future: What hope do I have for my future and what steps are
being taken to grant me an appropriate nationality?
Under internationallaw, astateless personsis someone “whoisnotconsidered
asanational byanystate undertheoperation ofitslaw” (Article 1 of the 1954
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons).

12. A person can be stateless in the country in which he or she was born, has
always lived and has all family ties.
Statelessness rests on the fact of lacking a nationality, nothing more.
Most stateless persons have not moved from their homes and are found in
what can be described as their own country.
Where a person who “is not considered as a national by any State
under the operation of its law” also falls within the scope of the 1951
UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, he or she is a
stateless refugee.
That someone can simultaneously be both stateless and a refugee,
asylum seeker or IDP does not lessen their experience of statelessness,
which should be taken into consideration when protecting and finding
durable solutions for them.

14. Harvest Centre Borneo’s mission and
vision is to advocate and support the rights of
all children to gain access and complete
basic education in Sabah.
Most of the parents of these undocumented
children are marginalised, from broken
families as many of their parents are holding
on to labour intensive jobs that have no
fixed income and are constantly subjected
to immigration control (sometimes on a daily
basis) in Sabah.

15. Education is an area where the discrepancy between
law and practice is very evident. Despite widespread
acceptance of the right of undocumented children to
attend ALC’s, their access in practice varies
greatly especially at the urban area of Sabah.
Harvest Centre Borneo notes that the high levels of
stress, lack of money for academic enrichment
activities and pressures to work lead many children to
drop out of ALCs in Sabah.
Further, immigration control and labour policies which
leaves the undocumented workers’ employment rights
unprotected and often lead to parents working in insecure
and poor conditions with low pay and long working hours
resulting in high levels of poverty and stress.

16. The role of Harvest Centre Borneo is also
aimed at assisting the Government of Malaysia,
the State Government of Sabah, Ministry of
Education, Ministry of Welfare, UNICEF,
UNCHR, Embassies and other stakeholders.
Harvest Centre Borneo identifies how best
to aid and support these initiatives and to
bridge the current gaps in policies,
participation and service delivery of
“Alternative Education Policy” among
undocumented children in Sabah.

17. What is Alternative Education Programme?
Alternative Education Programmes (AEP) or parallel
programmes, refers to learning programmes that are NOT
considered formal education. It provides methods of
delivery to ‘fill the gap’ of education for children who are not
enrolled in the formal national system.
It is offered outside the auspices of the formal government
education system and include programmes that are not
managed by the government but rather implemented by
individuals, agencies and NGOs.
Alternative Education Programmes are considered
alternative because they take place in a venue other than a
formal school or may seek to ensure access for sections of the
community who may be marginalised, either geographically or
for reasons of nationality, gender, religion, ethnicity or culture.

18. The pedagogy is generally conservative and the
schools may have a limited range of subjects
depending on the skills and knowledge of the
available teachers.
Harvest Centre Borneo concurs with UNHCR and
Dignity Foundation for Children in encouraging
CLCs to follow the Malaysian curriculum to make
the case stronger for the Malaysian Government to
unconditionally open the doors of public schools to
undocumented children.
The second reason behind this is to make it easier for
children to integrate into Malaysian education, if and
when the Malaysian Government changes its policies.

19. Our Teachers
Most of our teachers have never worked with children
prior to their arrival in Sabah. Many become teachers
for several reasons: financial considerations, their
academic backgrounds, their desire to be close to
their own children who study at these centres and to
help other kids from their own communities.
Teaching is a better option than working in
restaurants or in construction though some take up
part time jobs after school hours or during holidays.
Dedicated and highly committed, they work long
hours often for very little pay, alongside local and
expatriate volunteers guiding children through their
formative years.

20. Our Teachers
Often they explore unconventional methods of
instruction, singing, dancing and playing games in
classrooms to motivate children and uplift the kids’ and their
own spirits.
Despite serious financial and emotional challenges and living in
uncertainty for years in Sabah, many of these teachers work
hard to: educate hundreds of children, identify depression or
other issues in students, engage in fostering friendship among
pupils from different cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds,
handhold students who are unable to cope academically and
impress upon them and their families the benefits of
education.

21. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SCHOOLS IN SABAH
No Name of Learning Centre No of Students No of Teachers
1 KG. TELIPOK, KK 248 4
2 KG. LOK URAI, KK 240 3
3 KG. PULAU PONDO, KK 75 2
4 KG. KINARUT, PAPAR 335 3
5 KG. PANTAI BAHAGIA, KUDAT 133 2
6 KG. PULAU JAMPIRAS, SANDAKAN 159 2
7 KG. HIDAYAT. TAWAU 366 4
8 KG. SELAMAT, SEMPORNA 512 5
9 KG. PANGKALAN, KUNAK 142 2
10 KG. BAHAGIYA, SANDAKAN 678 5
11 EDUCATE CENTRE KG. NUMBAK, 305 6
MENGGATAL

22. HCB’s COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVE LEARNING CENTRES (CALCs)
RAINBOW OF HOPE IN KOTA KINABALU (120 Students)
HOPE LEARNING CENTRE IN PENAMPANG (360 Students)
KENINGAU VISION CENTRE IN KENINGAU (120 Students)
VISION OF HOPE CENTRE IN KENINGAU (150 Students)
JAYA LEARNING CENTRE IN KOTA KINABALU (Private School)
GRACE CENTRE IN PENAMPANG (150 Students)

23. Academic Advisory Board
The role of the Academic Advisory Board (AAB) is to provide advice,
counsel and critical-friendship to the HCB’s Executive Management Board.
This advice includes comments on:
The structure, design and impact of the curriculum and associated
materials to ensure that they contribute to the highest possible
developments in academic, personal and holistic learning in CALCs.
Maintaining the quality and integrity of the CALC’s through reviewing and
advising on:
– the self-review and accreditation protocol
– CALC Professional Development strategy
– the implementation support provided to affiliated learning centres.
Changes taking place within the wider educational arena that may have
impact on the programs made available by Harvest Centre Borneo.

24. EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Muhanah Binti Ingkab (Project Director –
Private CALCs)
* Steven Lee (Project Director – Administration)
* Balaji (Project Director – Academics)
Dr.Joshua Khiew (Project Director – Faith
Based CALC’s)
Dharma Lingam (Project Director)

25. “Education is more than promoting
the ability to write and read;
it is also about understanding the
complexity of life,
the complexity of growing up and to
be creative…”
HBC is committed to assisting
underprivileged, marginalised and
displaced stateless children to meet the
educational needs in the broadest
sense within the community,

26. THANK
YOU