The Education Act of 1996 has been amended in 2002 by the Ministry of Education which had
abolished free education to non-Malaysian children. This means that those children who has
no legal documentation that lives in Malaysia cannot attend government school in Malaysia.
Most of these stateless children are the offspring of mixed-marriages, refugees and illegal
migrants. The limitation on the accessibility to get education for stateless children was deemed
to be the sources to the increasing rate of criminal activities, social issues and it also contributes
to the poverty level in Malaysia. As the government had stopped to provide free education for
stateless children, groups of education providers have emerged through the Alternative
Learning Centers (ALCs) which allows those stateless and marginalised children to get
education. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the factors of accessibility to
education among stateless children from the perspectives of education providers. This study
was carried out using qualitative research approach to discover the indicators that limits
stateless children to attend schools in Malaysia. The findings indicates that the absence of
citizenship documentation leads to the limitation in giving free education to stateless children
based on the interviews conducted with four (4) education providers in Sabah. As for
recommendations, the government need to formulate an effective and efficient education policy
to recognize the role these ALCs and to allow stateless children to get free education.
