Undocumented children include those who are stateless, dependent of foreign workers, foreign children staying illegally, children born from mixed or unregistered marriages, children born soon after marriage, children born of single mothers, and unregistered children from indigenous groups. As many as 43,973 undocumented children in Malaysia, ranging from seven to seventeen years old, were reported to be out of school. As a result of their status, there are up to 85% of illiteracy rate as they are not entitled access to the standard national schooling system. Study showed that poverty and citizenship status are the top contributors to the high illiteracy rate in Sabah. The consequences of illiteracy may have economic and social impact on the children. With little access to education and economic opportunities, they and their families are more likely to live in poverty.

Teluk Layang Alternative Learning Center (Sekolah Alternatif Teluk Layang) is located behind Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). It started in year 2015 by a group of UMS students. Currently, the school teaches Bahasa Melayu on every Saturday, starting from 9am to 12pm. Most of them are from the ethnic Suluk and Bajau, and our target community are all undocumented. The eldest student is 16 years old whereas the youngest is 7 years old.

To tackle this problem, PriviLAD aims to aid children from the Teluk Layang Alternative Learning Center by giving them literacy and life skills. Education is vital for them in order to help mould a person and to lift them out of poverty. It creates opportunities for children to develop skills that will help them provide for themselves and their family. Breaking the cycle of illiteracy and improving their self-esteem is important for them to be independent, feel empowered and can take control of their lives.

Our vision is to equip the undocumented children with basic English reading and writing skills. We support this vision through English tutorial class with following objectives:

(a) To improve literacy among the children to be able to read and write basic English.

(b) To encourage involvement from the public in volunteering to help out the underprivileged through social media.

(c) To equip the children with skills in sustaining their livelihood in the future.

(d) To develop sense of confidence among the children in speaking and writing English.

(e) To instill importance of education among the children.

A visit to the Teluk Layang Alternative Learning Center (Sekolah Alternatif Teluk Layang) will be carried out on Thursday every week.

1. Teach basic English

- Children will be divided according to their education level. Each volunteer will be assigned to one of the groups and conduct the learning session.

- Boost self-esteem among the children to speak and write in English.

- Outline and customise syllabus and content which are suitable for the students.

2. Conduct interactive games with the children.

- To encourage them to have critical thinking skills and creativity.

- To improve their communication skills.

3. Build a reading corner to encourage them to pick up a reading habit.

- Books, novels or other reading materials will be donated to the reading corner.

4. Video documentation

- Children will be interviewed and the footages will be made into videos to be posted on social media to spread awareness.

The expected outcome of this project is to achieve the objectives that we have set.

After conducting this project, we hope that the undocumented children can at least be able to read and recognize basic English terms. They need more access in education as it is one of the essential components for them to have a better life in the future or when they grow up. It is important to make them realise the importance of education and to always grab the opportunity of education whenever they can.

Next, we also hope to raise awareness among the public by publishing documentaries so that these stories can reach out to more people and thus, can have more concern in the education of the undocumented community. From here, we might can gain more volunteers to help in this project and ensure the sustainability of the project.