PLOS ONE Undocumented: An examination of legal identity and education provision for children in Malaysia that are party to the United Nations CRC, in addition to having national laws that ensure protection and schooling for all children. Comparative studies in these settings have shown that the early inclusion of children in regular classes provides the best chances for school success. Whereas educating refugee children in a parallel education system often has poorer results, with children dropping out or not attending school at all [114,115]. Another example to emulate would be Thailand’s progressive "Education for All" (EFA) policy which mandates 15 years of free education for all children, whether they are Thai nationals, migrants, or stateless children. The Thai government sponsors school fees and provides subsidies for books, school supplies, extra-curricular activities, and uniforms. Yet the uptake is low for complex reasons including migrant families’ persistent financial struggles with school-related expenses and the difficulty in addressing the multilingual and diverse learning needs of non-citizen children [116–118]. Thus, considerable planning and investment are necessary to accommodate and integrate non-citizen children into the Malaysian public school system in the long term. Other good practices range from mainstreaming host country curriculum in alternative education or accrediting informal education with national or regional equivalencies, and regional initiatives such as the Djibouti Declaration and Plan of Action on Refugee Education comprising eight countries [119–121]. This study has several strengths. We used a framework analysis methodology, which is flexible yet systematic, enabling us to summarise and chart data, while keeping the context of each case, thereby allowing for thick descriptions [32,122,123]. This study is a unique examination of undocumented, stateless, and non-citizen children in Malaysia, exploring their identity and access to education. The children discussed here belong to hidden populations that are poorly accounted for in national statistics. We hope that this paper contributes to a better understanding that allows for the identification of intervention points for future action. This study has several limitations. We were unable to conduct fieldwork to observe the environment and surroundings of learning centres due to the strict lockdowns enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were mostly conducted virtually of stakeholders representing communities studied. We had difficulties interviewing non-citizens, particularly from East Malaysia, as travel restrictions limited study participants to those with the means to engage in online interviews. Nevertheless, we were able to triangulate our findings by conducting a document review and interviewing diverse key informants with experience in marginalized undocumented communities in Malaysia. Also, the qualitative nature of this study does not allow the generalisation of findings beyond this setting. Conclusion The alternative education system in Malaysia is highly responsive and serves the diverse educational needs of non-citizen communities in Malaysia. Yet, many children are still left behind. Implementing a rights-based approach towards education would mean allowing all children equal opportunity to access and thrive in high-quality schools. Education is essential for the social and emotional well-being of children and would yield a significant return on investment as adults enter the workforce at higher wages and with greater skills. We would caution against the stringent regulation of informal education, as this may result in learning centres being shut down. The government should instead support learning centres in providing quality education by allowing the use of the national syllabus for pre-school, primary and secondary education, and allowing for all children to sit for Malaysian school-leaving examinations. This would pave the way for post-secondary and tertiary education in Malaysia or elsewhere, and better job prospects. PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263404 February 2, 2022 20 / 26