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 aspect of assimilation,” he said at a discussion on Orang Asli schooling, which was attended by National Unity and Social Wellbeing Minister P 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 that 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 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.

However,  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 Year 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 these children psychologically.

He added that traditional teaching methods focused on examinations, memorisation and textbooks. These would not be meaningful for the children.

“They don’t see the purpose of using them. Students would completely disengage from them,” he said.

An assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia,  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 are 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.”

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 schools

Suria added that bullying in mainstream schools between Orang Asli children and non-natives also affected their performance. The high drop-out rate affected the community.

“If you put Orang Asli students in a safer environment, with no bullying, and the teachers are more positive, probably our Orang Asli would also perform better,” she said.

Jenita Engi, who has co-founded 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 are 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.