By reading Article 12 alongside Article 8, Article 12 puts limitations towards applying Article 8 on matters of educational rights since the provision focuses on Malaysian children²⁷. This provision gives rise to the potential to discriminate against refugee and stateless children of their right to education. Furthermore, the preamble of the Malaysian Education Act 1996 underlines the importance of education in empowering Malaysian society to command knowledge28. The term “Malaysian society” is suggested to refer to those with Malaysian citizenship only, excluding refugees and stateless children from this act29. The Education Act 1996 states that the Minister must provide primary education for children in Malaysia (Section 27)30 and that primary education is compulsory for all children (Section 29A)31. Additionally, it imposes a legal obligation on parents to ensure that their children attend primary school. However, this law only applies to Malaysian citizens, as the term “parents” in Section 29A excludes non-citizens. This means that refugee or stateless children with non-citizen parents are not covered by compulsory education in Malaysia. Malaysia’s implementation of the Child Act 2001 is an effort to safeguard children’s best interests. This act was passed in Malaysia to ensure the welfare of children, based on the principles stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)32. Despite the preamble of the act’s intent to protect children from discrimination, it does not sufficiently address all children’s access to education33. Therefore, reading the preamble of the Child Act 2001 with the provisions discussed, Malaysian legislation acknowledges justice and equality to obtain education only for Malaysian citizens34. In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Malaysia (MoE) implemented the Zero Reject Policy to enhance the implementation of Education for All Policy in Malaysia. The policy aims to ensure that no child is denied access to education, regardless of their special needs or citizenship status. However, in March 2022, the MoE announced the revision of the guideline admission procedures. It clarified that the Zero Reject Policy “does not refer to admission for undocumented children but children with special needs”35. As a result, refugee and stateless children are only allowed to obtain informal education via alternative learning centres (ALC) and other private learning institutions. There are currently some 150 ALCs in Peninsular Malaysia serving refugees that are recognised by UNHCR36. Of this number, only 28 offer secondary-level education37. In total, these ALCs enrol 34% of school-age refugee children, meaning two out of every three refugee children do not have access to education. In addition, the refugee and stateless children in Malaysia face various difficulties in obtaining identification documents, which deprive them of accessing healthcare and, subsequently of a meaningful childhood38. Refugee children are often victims of their circumstances as they were forced to flee to host country due to war or persecution in their home country. On the other hand, statelessness in-situ among children is often the result of the framing and implementation of nationality laws39. A working definition for in situ statelessness is stateless persons “who are in their ‘own country’, meaning a country with which they have significant and stable ties through birth, long-term residence40.” These are individuals, among whom are children, who were born and have resided in the country their entire lives but are unable to obtain citizenship because they may lack necessary documentation41 . Malaysia in collaboration with the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held its 8th International Seminar on the subject of ‘Islamic Perspectives on Protection of Refugees: Rights and Access to Education’ in Kuala Lumpur. As the final document of the symposium, the OIC recommended the adoption by the IPHRC of the “Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Refugee Rights and Access to Education”42 , which calls for refugee children to be included in the national education systems of OIC Member States. 27 Rahmat, N. E., Randawar, D. K., Jayabalan, S., Razak, M. U. A., & Azmi, I. I. (2021). Revisiting the Laws and Policies Related to Educational Rights of Stateless Children in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 10(3), 1174–1184 28 Malaysian Education Act 1996 Akta Pendidikan Malaysia 1996 29 Rahmat, N. E., Randawar, D. K., Jayabalan, S., Razak, M. U. A., & Azmi, I. I. (2021). Revisiting the Laws and Policies Related to Educational Rights of Stateless Children in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 10(3), 1174–1184 30 Section 27 Malaysian Education Act 1996 Seksyen 27 Akta Pendidikan Malaysia 1996 31 Section 29A Malaysian Education Act 1996 Seksyen 27 Akta Pendidikan Malaysia 1996 32 Taib, F. (2012). Invisible, Vulnerable and Marginalised Children in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health Online Early, 18(2), 1-5 33 Rahmat, N. E., Randawar, D. K., Jayabalan, S., Razak, M. U. A., & Azmi, I. I. (2021). Revisiting the Laws and Policies Related to Educational Rights of Stateless Children in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 10(3), 1174–1184 34 ibid 35 Education Ministry reviewing guidelines, entry procedures into schools for Malaysian children without documents. (2022, March 14). Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/03/14/education-ministry-reviewing-guidelines-entry-procedures-into-schools-for-m/2047451 36 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.. Education. Refugee Malaysia. https://refugeemalaysia.org/support/education 37 ibid 38 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2015, November). I am here, I belong: The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness. UNHCR: Division of International Protection. https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/2015-10-StatelessReport_ENG16.pdf 39 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2014). Handbook on protection of stateless persons: Under the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. https://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html 40 Gyulai, Gábor. (2012). Statelessness in the EU framework for international protection. European Journal of Migration and Law, 14, .https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/default/files/attachments/resources/Gyulai_Statelessness%20in%20the%20EU%20Framework%20for%20International%20Protection_2012.p 41 Nungsari, M., and Fong, N. (2023). Human Rights and Statelessness in Peninsular Malaysia. SUHAKAM - The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. 42 OIC calls for global action to ensure access to education for refugees. (2022, October 12). ARAB NEWS. https://www.arabnews.jp/en/saudi-arabia/article_82163/ 7