Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, in a text message, said he was aware of the issue and had instructed his officers to look into the matter, reported The Star Online today.
“However, I am pleased to announce that the children’s education shall continue from this Friday while a long-term solution is being formulated,” he said in the message yesterday.
Two weeks ago, V Surya, 12; V Agilandaiswary, 11; V Thurainayagi, 10; were told to stop attending school for the second time after being told to leave in January last year.
They were good students who had been marked out as “nambikei nachatiram” (star students) in SJK (T) Mak Mandin.
Their father M D Vengadeswaran, 44, is Malaysian. He said he underwent a paternity test to prove he was the children’s father after the kids were told to leave school last year.
Vengadeswaran, who is a lorry driver, said he was estranged from their mother, a Balinese woman of Chinese and Indian descent who had left for Indonesia seven years ago to attend her brother’s wedding and had never returned.
“We also failed to register our marriage,” he said.
The three children born in the Seberang Jaya Hospital have non-citizen birth certificates.
Vengadeswaran said he submitted paternity test results to the National Registration Department in Putrajaya, which later issued him a receipt for his application.
With the receipt, Vengadeswaran managed to enrol the children in school in June last year.
However, the children were told to leave school again on Jan 3.
Upon receiving the news that his children could resume schooling, Vengadeswaran said he hoped it would not be a temporary measure but a permanent solution.
“I hope my children will be allowed to continue schooling and no new problems arise due to this citizenship matter,” he said.