Educational attainment of the orang asli in Air Banun regroupment scheme, Hulu Perak

Abstract

This case study shows that the Orang Asli in Rancangan Pengumpulan Semula (RPS) Air Banun, established in 1979, has generally attained low education. The study showed that of the 303 household and migrant family members aged six and above in 71 households interviewed in 2003, 42% had no schooling, 48% attained only primary education, 9% had lower secondary education and only 1% attained upper secondary education. None attained tertiary education. Some Orang Asli did not send their children to school. This is despite the fact that a primary school was established within the regroupment scheme to facilitate children to have primary education. Some Orang Asli children did not proceed to secondary school even though arrangement has been made to enable children to attend secondary school in the nearby town, Gerik. A reason for the low educational attainment is the scattered and remote settlement prior to their regroupment in Air Banun. Another reason is the accessibility of villages to school as some villages are located at least 5 km from school and children's school attendances is affected by weather and earth road conditions. Parent's unsupportive attitude also affect children's educational attainment. Negative perception on school and hostel keep children away from school. Poverty contributes to low educational attainment when parents are busy searching for non-timber forest products to sustain daily livelihood thus neglecting children's education. Concerted efforts are needed to ensure that Orang Asli community is able to appreciate the importance of educational attainment. Parents and children can further be motivated by providing more educational talks and arranging trips to visit centres of higher education. To uplift living standard and reduce forest dependence, their socio-economic livelihood must be assured and this could be achieved through commercial agricultural development. Newly placed teachers in RPS Air Banun should have adequate understanding on the social, economic, cultural and religious background of the local community to have better teaching impacts.