VOA标准英语2011--Plantation Schools Offer Hope for Malaysia's Stateless Children

Plantation¹ Schools Offer Hope for Malaysia's Stateless Children

 

Sabah, a Malaysian state of great beauty and natural resources on the island of Borneo, is home to a vast population of immigrant labor² - both legal and illegal. Tens of thousands of children born to Indonesian and Filipino parents who are in the country illegally are stateless. They have no right to basic services, including education. Thousands of deprived children now are attending school on palm oil plantations³ thanks to the work of non-governmental organizations, with the support of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

For these youngsters, going to school is a joy.

“Before they came here, they had no schooling⁴ at all. They actually started here. So, this is their first experience to school,” said Torben Venning, the Project Director for Borneo Humana Child Aid Society, a non-governmental organization that provides education for underprivileged children. The school at the Cepat Wawasan plantation, is one of 120 learning centers the group runs for more than 10,000 children.

He says about 50 students were enrolled⁵ in the school when it began two years ago. Now, more than twice that number attend.

Workers arrive at a plantation in Kinabatangan in Malaysia's state of Sabah on the Borneo island. (File Photo)

“All the children you see in the yellow and green here," added Venning. "They are all plantation children. Some from small farms around, some from the company here. Most of them are from Indonesian parents, but, they are considered stateless because they are born in Sabah.”

Stateless

The children are stateless. Because they have no birth certificates or other documents to prove their nationality, they live in a legal limbo⁶. Without documents, they cannot access government services, including education. Venning says this becomes a huge problem for the Plantation children.

“If you do not provide an education for them, there is absolutely no doubt that the majority will go with their parents into the field and become child laborers⁷ from the age of 9, 10 years," he said. "So, it is about education first of all. At the same time it is also keeping them away from child labor.”

Arfaisal Marsaleh, 2, a stateless child, holds on to his mother as he plays with his friends in a slum village in Kinarut, in Malaysia's Sabah state on the Borneo island. (file photo)

In many cases, he says these underprivileged children end up living on the streets.

“That would be a course of trouble definitely-sniffing glue and getting into bad habits," said Venning. "So, by giving them a basic education, then you keep them away from this. Many of these plantation children, if they were to grow up without any education at all, there is no doubt that they would end up in towns.

Choices

The school premises⁸ are large, bright and well equipped. It is a showcase compared to the usual sub-standard, primitive⁹ structures found in most plantation schools.

Factory Manager of the Cepat Wawasan plantation, Gan Heng Kok, says he is very impressed by what the company is doing for the children.

“I have been to so many estates working and so many places and not many companies have such a good facility to offer to the little children on the estates," said Gan Heng Kok. "And, I can clearly say that this is one of the best places that I have been where the company is actually so committed to offering education to little children in their estates. I am amazed at what is being done in this place here.”

Monitoring and Education Officer for the U.N. Children’s Fund, Nur Anuar Muthalib says large plantation owners tend to welcome education for their migrant workers’ children. Owners of small and medium-sized plantations are more resistant¹⁰ to the idea.

He agrees families can make more money if their children do not go to school and work on the plantations. But, he says this is a very shortsighted view.

“It is an opportunity lost for the kids because what they can become, what they can do with their lives with an education would probably make a bigger impact on the family," said Nur Anuar Muthalib. "We have seen that many of the children who have become successful, they go back to their communities. They do help their parents.”

Goals

The Malaysian and Indonesian governments signed an agreement in 2006, allowing more than 100 teachers from Indonesia to come to the Plantation schools to instruct children in their language. Torben Venning says the idea is to make the students fluent in their native language so they can continue their education, without problem, in Indonesia after they complete primary school.

“When they pass the Indonesian government exam, they can go straight to secondary school in Indonesia," said Venning. "So, that is sort of the master plan-that they are able to go back and continue their schooling in Indonesia and thereby¹¹, they are no more stateless. They become Indonesian citizens. If they then opt¹² to come back here, that would be as legalized employees.”

Several mothers are beaming as they watch their children perform traditional songs and dances. One mother, 29-year-old Amirasaa, says she is very proud to see what her daughter is learning.

Amirasaa is young and pretty. But, she looks very care worn.

She says she works on the plantation and worries that her children too will have to work on the plantation. She says she wants a better life for her three children. And, believes this is possible if they get an education. She adds her oldest child, her daughter, who is attending school, told her she wants to become a teacher one day.

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

4 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

7 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

8 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

9 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

10 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

11 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

12 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？