PLOS ONE Undocumented: An examination of legal identity and education provision for children in Malaysia Unlike the refugee learning centres in Peninsular Malaysia, most learning centres in Sabah teach almost exclusively at pre-primary and primary levels and have modest expectations of providing basic education, vocational skills and preventing social ills. Embassy supported education for children of migrant workers. The educational needs of children of migrants are partly catered for by the government of their respective countries of origin, notably via the Indonesian embassy (through a Government-to-Government agreement) [81] and to a lesser extent the Philippine embassy (through a Memorandum of Understanding with several Sabah-based learning centres) [82]. Compared to children of Filipino descent, there is additional support for Indonesian children from oil palm estates in Sabah. Indonesian law stresses the importance of educating their citizens wherever they may be located. Article 6 (1) Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 20 of the year 2003 on the National Education System states that "Every citizen aged seven to fifteen years, wherever they are, both within the country and outside the Republic of Indonesia, shall attend basic education." On this basis, a collaboration between the Indonesian government, oil palm plantation companies, and local NGOs began in the mid-2000s, to establish learning centres for the children of migrant workers. The Indonesian government would provide trained teachers and pay their salaries, while oil palm estates would contribute towards school facilities and teachers’ housing. These learning centres follow an existing, robust alternative curriculum used in Indonesia for older children and dropouts from mainstream education. An important implication of the collaboration with the Indonesian government is that these children are given the option for further education after leaving the learning centres. Since the Indonesian Ministry of Education recognises the certificates issued by recognised learning centres, students may be repatriated to Indonesia to pursue secondary or even tertiary education on government scholarships, which would lead to improved job prospects. According to our interviewees, the learning centres within estates are better resourced in terms of funding, infrastructure, and teachers compared to learning centres located outside estates. Even with the Embassy support, alternative education for Indonesian migrant workers’ children is less accessible outside of estates due to high rental costs and lack of assistance from urban employers. Interviews with the Indonesian consulate revealed that there were over 300 learning centres in Sabah and Sarawak catering for an estimated 30,000 Indonesian children of school age. Learning centres are not allowed to formally operate for children of Indonesian migrant workers in Peninsular Malaysia, highlighting a huge unmet need for education. To date, three informal learning centres (Sangar Bimbingan) with a more basic syllabus operate in Peninsular Malaysia under the auspices of the Indonesian consulate. Besides these, there are also three Indonesian international schools (Sekolah Indonesia) located in major cities in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia, which cater primarily to Indonesian expatriates’ children, although children of Indonesian migrant workers have limited access to these schools. The Philippines government plays a more modest role in supporting their nationals in Sabah. In 2014, six learning centres in Sabah signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to collaborate on a community-based education program in Sabah. The Philippine Embassy offers assistance to these learning centres in terms of teacher training, resources, and fundraising efforts [82]. Yet, these learning centres are not recognised by the Malaysian government and are only allowed to operate on the condition that sessions are limited to a 3-day week and school uniforms are not allowed. Learning centres for the Bajau Laut nomadic tribes. The 2002 amendment of the Education Act had excluded all undocumented children, including children from the Bajau Laut, from entering public schools in Sabah. Interviewees informed that it was challenging to provide PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263404 February 2, 2022 17 / 26