How to help the underprivileged in schools
Tamanna Patel,Fz.com
WHILE the Malaysian school system is going through an evolution towards a system which, one can only hope, will provide a better learning platform for the nation’s children, the challenges faced by the underprivileged remain the same. They remain stuck in a cycle of poverty, from which there seems to be no escape.
Recently, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) released the results of our nationwide education survey of the bottom 40%. With sponsorship from Arise Asia Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Foundation, ECM Libra Foundation and Tinggi Foundation, we interviewed over 1,200 parents from low-income households about their children’s current education, covering various issues from the school environment to their access to additional education support and the aspiration of these parents with regard to children’s education.
Unsurprisingly, we found that the importance of a good quality education did not the escape these parents, although many of them barely completed secondary school. And 98% saw education as important in securing a good future for their child.
But we also discovered several issues that deserve attention, especially from those wishing to help children from poor and underprivileged backgrounds.
The average household income of those surveyed was RM919 per month. One would expect that students from such low household income families would have access to government aids.
However, we found that only 15% of the parents are benefitting from the Poor Students’ Trust Fund (PSTF), and that the level of awareness and receipt of these funds was much lower in urban areas compared to rural areas, and especially low in Peninsular Malaysia compared with Sabah and Sarawak. There is a need for the authorities to do more to raise parents’ awareness of the fund.
Despite financial difficulties, many parents aspire to provide their children with additional support to boost academic performance. Over half of the parents felt that their children would benefit from tuition or extra classes, but two-thirds said that they cannot afford it.
We also found that one of the leading reasons for students dropping out from school was the inability to afford school-related expenses. In fact, on average, parents of dropouts spend less on their children’s school-related expenses compared with those whose children continue to be in school. So, even though school itself is free, there is a need to relook at associated costs like Parents Teachers Association fees, book costs, and uniform costs.
Additionally, we found that parents of school dropouts tend to be less engaged with their children when it comes to activities such as reading together or even preparing packed lunches for their children, presumably due to a lack of time and resources.
Even more worrying, two-thirds of the parents actually said that they do not want to have more frequent interactions with the school about their children. Clearly any improvement initiatives that require parental involvements will face quite a hurdle.
Accessibility remains a problem for many who live below the poverty line. The need to pay for transport to go to school is one of the factors that prevents parents from spending money on supporting their children, such as for additional classes.
