Thousands of Indigenous Malaysians Miss School, Agency Finds

KUALA LUMPUR — Human rights advocates have raised concerns that thousands of indigenous children in Malaysia, living in remote areas, are not attending school, which they say exposes them to greater risk of living in poverty in adulthood.

A report released last week by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, a government agency, showed that 7,000 indigenous children aged 5 to 18 who live on the Malaysian Peninsula were not attending school in 2007, based on government figures.

Among those aged 7 to 12, the number not attending school rose to more than 2,700 in 2010, up from 1,962 in 2007.

The commission was unable to obtain more recent figures for other age groups but said the overall number of indigenous children not in school could have increased because of population growth.

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