KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 — The Education Ministry must provide clarification as to whether there are new schooling policies in place that may disrupt a stateless child from enrolment in schools, a group which helps Malaysian families with statelessness issue said today.

The Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia said the matter concerning new policies arose after a 10-year-old child from Senawang, Negri Sembilan named Shivaani, was denied entry to school by the Education Ministry earlier in March as reported by the media earlier.

According to her father’s testimony, the child could not continue to Year Four due to citizenship documentation issues following the new policy.

"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.

"This 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,” it said in a statement here.

According to DHRRA, it said its database indicates that a significant number of recorded stateless individuals are children born to Malaysian fathers who face challenges in obtaining citizenship.

Over 8,223 recorded stateless persons are children born to Malaysian fathers and adopted children of Malaysians, DHRRA said of its database.

"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,” it said.