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Recommendation 1: There must be a greater focus on learning and addressing underlying challenges instead of symptomatic issues.
The general school culture must prioritise learning instead of examinations or rote memorisation. High-quality education that can motivate and nurture students is needed to produce Orang Asli students who are independent learners. Policies and programmes need to address underlying issues instead of only dealing with symptomatic problems at a surface level which do not resolve or eradicate these issues.
Recommendation 2: Indigenous cultures and history must be integrated into the mainstream curriculum.
It is very important that indigenous cultures and history be included in the mainstream curriculum, and that Orang Asli should not be represented as an exotic “other”, but celebrated as part of the diversity of peoples in Malaysia. Schoolchildren should be taught about different Orang Asli sub-ethnic groups, where they live, their contribution to nation-making, their arts, and their cultures that are closely linked to the natural environment.
The Orang Asli's rights to self-determination as indigenous peoples should also be included in mainstream education.
Recommendation 3: Existing programmes must be monitored and evaluated to ensure their efficient and effective delivery and implementation.
Regular monitoring, and mid- and post-programme evaluations are needed to ensure that programmes remain on track and are adjusted for new issues that may arise. This monitoring and evaluation needs to be considered at the beginning of the original programme design.
Recommendation 4: Teachers and school leaders who are equipped and capable of delivering quality education for Orang Asli students need to be entrusted with greater autonomy and balanced accountability.
Teachers and school leaders who are able to enhance the quality of education for Orang Asli students should be given the freedom to do so, as they could be role models that drive change. However, this autonomy needs to be balanced with accountability. These teachers and school leaders also need to be further trained and equipped to fully leverage this autonomy to deliver effective teaching and learning along with the efficient allocation of resources.
Recommendation 5: Pre-posting training on Orang Asli cultures could be provided to teachers, and infrastructure and resources for teachers in Orang Asli schools should be improved.
Teachers who are posted to schools with Orang Asli students should be provided with training to introduce them to the history and culture of the particular Orang Asli sub-ethnic group they will be teaching. This preparation module could also include implicit bias training to create self- awareness of learned racial biases against Orang Asli.
Teachers who are posted in Orang Asli schools often take up many different responsibilities outside the classroom, such as taking care of students after school and maintaining the school’s infrastructure. These teachers should be given more support and increased allowances for these added responsibilities. Their living conditions and teaching infrastructure could also be improved.
Recommendation 6: Teachers should be trained in innovative and adaptive pedagogies, and platforms for knowledge sharing could be established.
Teachers should be introduced to different teaching tools such as culturally responsive and adaptive pedagogies, both before and during their postings, with experienced teachers encouraged to share their best practices and offer advice to new teachers.
Other knowledge sharing initiatives could include annual teaching conferences, to foster networking and support among teachers; and user-friendly online knowledge sharing platforms as a resource for teachers.
Teachers often use their private funds to create innovative teaching tools. They should be supported, and a teaching and learning fund be made available to teachers. Recognition should also be given to teachers and schools for their best practices.
Recommendation 7: Trust and collaboration between schools and Orang Asli communities needs to be built as Orang Asli parents and their communities are important partners in education.
This is critical in creating a supportive environment for Orang Asli children. Schools and communities should have open communication and work collaboratively. Schools can also draw upon the community’s expertise and local knowledge as part of the learning experience for their students.
Recommendation 8: Community-based schools (PDK) need to be recognised as part of the support system for schools and adequate essential resources should be provided to PDKs.
Support and recognition should be given to PDKs for their important role in community education. PDKs provide preschool education, after-school programmes and in some cases alternative schooling for children without access to public schools or those who have dropped out. Some PDKs also provide learning opportunities for adults in the community.
Support can be in the form of funding and resource assistance to PDKs, including infrastructure such as libraries, computers and reliable internet connection. However, their autonomy should remain an important feature of their governance structure.
Recommendation 9: Good quality preschool education needs to be provided based on learning through play, social interaction, and their environment.
Orang Asli students without access to preschools are at a disadvantage when they enter Standard 1, as the curriculum assumes that students can already read, write, and count. Teachers have to pay special attention to teach them these basic skills, but this may not be possible given large class sizes. Students who attend preschool may also be more confident in their abilities and are able to transition to schooling life better. There are many villages without access to preschools and the founding of more community-based learning centres (PDK) could play an important role in providing preschool education for Orang Asli children.
Recommendation 10: Orang Asli communities should be empowered to be their own agents of change and participate in the process of Orang Asli-related policies.
This ensures that their cultures and views are incorporated in policymaking. Education issues and challenges should be addressed with Orang Asli parents and communities at the school, state, and national levels.
The creation of an Orang Asli education council comprising Orang Asli leaders, education policymakers, principals, teachers, and other relevant stakeholders to govern and monitor the progress of policy and programmes for children would help to ensure voices of the Orang Asli are fully taken into account and are involved in the close monitoring of any programmes.
Recommendation 11: Create a strength-based discourse to shift away from the current deficit discourse on Orang Asli.
Orang Asli students’ high dropout rate and gap in educational achievement are often attributed to their culture and way of life. All stakeholders need to move away from this 'deficit discourse', and instead adopt a strength-based framing that values Orang Asli culture as an asset. This includes shifting to culturally responsive teaching methods that draw on the students' cultural context to make learning relevant and effective.
Recommendation 12: The collaboration of relevant ministries must be strengthened to address the multidimensional challenges that Orang Asli children and communities face.
Multiple agencies need to coordinate in order to provide access to high-quality education. This includes building schools that are close to the villages, providing safe and reliable transportation and roads, and financial and resource assistance to families and schools.
Infrastructure such as hostels, libraries, computer centres, and internet connectivity are also desperately needed.
At the village level, basic amenities like electricity and clean water are vital.
The cooperation of NGOs and other charitable foundations are also needed in this effort. Information flow and transparency on the availability of assistance also need to be addressed so that parents and students are aware of and have access to the assistance and resources available to them.
Meng’s family doesn’t have a car, but she would like her dream school to have disabled parking lots. She was quite intentional about it too – when sketching out her dream school on paper, she made sure to mark a number of parking lots with the disabled symbol.
“It’s because I have a family member who’s OKU,” she explains using the Malay acronym for ‘person with disability’. “It would be easier for them to park, and sometimes I see how it’s hard for them to get out of the car.”
Then, after an awkward pause, she adds: “And I am also having OKU status.”
We are taken aback. There is nothing to suggest that this confident, expressive young lady speaking to us via video call is anything but whole and healthy, so we probe further.
“In the beginning, I was slow to understand,” she explains of her time in primary school. “For spelling and writing, I was OK. It was only reading that I just couldn’t pass.”
One of her teachers noticed something amiss, and brought her for a checkup, where a doctor diagnosed Meng with learning disabilities. Within weeks, she was issued an OKU card, and she started attending different classes and took separate exams from her peers. Her family also received monthly cash assistance.
Some parents have lamented how teachers readily allow Orang Asli students to be categorised as OKU, instead of attempting to understand the students’ needs and adapting their teaching methods accordingly.
For Meng and her family, they were not told of the matter until she received the card. Nevertheless, she took it in stride: “At that time, I accepted it, because I knew myself that I couldn’t read.”
But then the insults started.
May we ask what they would say? we broach the topic gently. “They would call me OKU, that I’m not smart, retarded, stupid.”
She laughs that awkward laugh one uses to hide shame, then quickly apologises for repeating those words to us. We don’t know how to refuse her apology.
“I just kept quiet,” she continues. “Sometimes it hurt me to hear them, but when I fought back, after a while, I just became quiet again. I became afraid to fight back.”
The name-calling persisted from primary school to secondary school. An authority had assigned Meng a lower status, and it seems everyone saw it as licence to treat her as such.
“I just told myself, be patient, be patient,” she says mimicking a calm voice. “Even though sometimes I felt like punching them.”
“Just be patient, and someday, I will show them what I can do.”
There is an edge to Meng’s voice as she declares this, the voice of someone – a child, no less – determined to take back her life’s narrative.
Her results did improve. She says she no longer has trouble reading, and that she now scores better than some of the students who teased her.
“Stories of success, of overcoming barriers, really help change the public discourse of Orang Asli as backwards or inferior,” says Ya Shin when reflecting on Meng’s story. “That discourse is completely untrue, but prevails at school level, and continues to the highest levels of public policymaking.”
“These ‘deficit narratives’ put the blame on the Orang Asli culture and way of life as the source of the problems,” says Dr Rusaslina. “So the blame is placed at their feet and little attention is paid to more fundamental problems like structural inequality and accessibility.”
IDEAS’ research observed several instances where the Orang Asli way of life was spoken of as a challenge to education, a handicap that needed to be overcome, and noted such perceptions among teachers, policymakers, academicians and in the media.
Somewhere in time, the Orang Asli had been assigned a deficient status, and now it seems everyone sees fit to treat them as such.
“We need to shift to a strength-based discourse, where we recognise Orang Asli culture and traditions as important resources that we can all learn from,” stresses Dr Rusaslina. "Once we recognise that, we recognise them as equals in society, instead of people who need to be told what to do and what kind of development they need.”
“Perhaps the one thing we really need to do is to respect their autonomy, their right to decide for themselves what they want for their communities.”
That would return to them the right to their own narrative. The right to imagine their environment, their economy, their families, their schools, as they see it. Only when everyone has that right, can we imagine a just and equitable society, together.
Do you think you are disabled? we ask Meng. “In the past, yes. But now, not anymore,” she says, and we imagine her already building the society of her dreams. “But I will still respect those who are disabled, because I was once disabled too.”
*Names of children changed to protect their identities. This interview with Niza was conducted independent of IDEAS’ research interviews.
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