Rural Development Minister Rina Harun (centre) mingling with guests during the Sepang Distirct Orang Asli Hari Raya celebration.
THE Rural Development Ministry intends to increase the number of orang asli students in secondary schools and tertiary institutions.
Speaking at a special Hari Raya celebration with the Sepang District orang asli villagers, Rural Development Minister Rina Harun said they would begin by increasing the intake of orang asli students in boarding schools like Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) and the Royal Military College (RMC).
She said the ministry was looking into the minimum requirements for student admission to enable more children from the orang asli community to join boarding schools.
Rina said hostels would provide a more conducive environment, allowing students to focus on their studies and to excel.
This year, the Ministry managed to reduce the number of Standard Six dropouts to 17% from 20%, she said.
"Education is the way out for poverty. We realise that many orang asli students drop out during the transition from Standard Six to Form One, so we have been trying to overcome that as well by providing school bus services,” she added.
There are currently 104 orang asli students studying in boardings schools, including 62 students at MRSM and four at RMC. In addition, 852 are enrolled in local universities in various fields.
Rina said she was proud to learn that there were eight orang asli who had obtained their PhDs, with another two still working on theirs.
The minister revealed that they would also like to provide opportunities for orang asli graduates to become officers at the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa).
“These students are in a better position to understand the needs of their community as Jakoa officers. There are more and more students joining university ranks, so we need to open the opportunity to them,” she added.
Apart from education, the ministry will also focus on skills development for the community through the Jakoa Skills and Career Training Programme (PLKK).
"We are planning to set up training centres for the community to pick up entrepreneurial skills. Most of the orang asli people have artistic skills that can be used to generate income for themselves," noted Rina.
The Hari Raya open house was attended by more than 2,000 people, including residents from 15 JAKOA villages in Sepang, 54 Tok Batin (Village leaders) and other guests.
Rural Development Deputy Minister R. Sivarasa and Dengkil assemblyman Adhif Syan Abdullah were also present.
During the event, hampers and duit raya were handed out to some 20 underprivileged children.
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