Don T Assimilate The Orang Asli Say Experts

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Orang Asli children are sometimes stigmatised by teachers, according to an academic. (Bernama pic)SUBANG JAYA: Orang Asli parents are fearful of their children undergoing a process of assimilation when attending national schools, the senior government official for Orang Asli affairs said at a forum here today
Activists and academics also urged the government to refrain from stigmatising or assimilating the Orang Asli through its education programmes
The director-general of Orang Asli development, Juli Edo, said education programmes were often politicised and urban-centric. “We need to remove any aspects of assimilation,” he said at a discussion on Orang Asli schooling, which was attended by Minister of National Unity and Social Wellbeing Waytha Moorthy
He added that parents often hesitated about sending their children to national schools because “they see the intention to assimilate” their children
Juli also suggested that pre-schools have a curriculum based on Orang Asli identity codes, “so we can develop them to become braver, more confident and aggressive.” He said indigenous knowledge should be incorporated into the curriculum
He added that some teachers in Orang Asli schools lacked the passion and dedication
“Pedagogy has to be considered, a good pedagogy for Orang Asli children cannot be the national pedagogy,” he added. There was a need for a student-centred approach, as Orang Asli children may need more hands-on methods for effective learning
He added however, that they still needed to be integrated into the national curriculum, but not in their early years as they needed time to transition into the national education style and syllabus. He recommended that they be introduced to the national syllabus once they enter primary three or four
Samuel Isaiah, an English Language teacher at a school in Runchang, Pahang, said there tended to be a general negative perception of the capabilities of the Orang Asli. Such negative stereotypes would affect the children psychologically
He added that traditional teaching methods focused on examinations, memorisation and textbooks would not be meaningful for the children. “They don’t see purpose of using it. Students would completely disengage,” he said
An assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Similarly Suria Selasih Angit, said stigmatisation also resulted in teachers having certain ways of viewing Orang Asli children
“Whenever they speak about Orang Asli achievements, they have a certain idea of why children were not doing well in school. Most of the times, they prefer victim-blaming,” she said, adding that blame was generally placed on their community or families who don’t support their children’s education
“But when we talk to Orang Asli parents, they do want education for their children.They just feel that there is a gap between schools and their communities.”Director-General of Orang Asli Development, Juli Edo.She added that despite many dedicated teachers, there was still a misunderstanding of their culture. She stressed that teachers should undertake a separate course for cultural training before they start teaching Orang Asli children
She said initiatives rooted in the view that Orang Asli children were a group that needed to be “saved, converted or transformed” would not be effective in reaching the goal of equal opportunities for education for the natives
Bullying in schoolsSuria added that bullying in mainstream schools between Orang Asli children and non-natives also affected their performance and the high drop-out rates affecting the community
“If you put Orang Asli students in a safer environment, with no bullying, and the teachers were more positive, probably our Orang Asli would also perform better,” she said
Jenita Engi, co-founder of Orang Asli community centres agreed. She said the children were often bullied and discriminated if they enter mainstream primary or secondary schools
She added that the natives also did not want to get assimilated
“Their culture, tradition and language, it’s their identity. This is important because if not they (the children) will get assimilated and we don’t want assimilation,” she said
“We don’t want to produce a generation that forgets where they come from.”Jenita said community learning centres in remote areas were therefore important facilities, as the children are taught by the communities themselves
“We establish community learning centres because we want to see the children being able to carry themselves, and being able to have a voice. They would know what they want in terms of their life, culture and their future,” she said. - FMT

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