|
>KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA - For most schoolchildren, their main concern as a new school year approaches is whether they will have new shoes and uniforms. For the more fortunate, it's whether they will get fashionable items to show off to their friends. But for thousands of others, it is a struggle to stay in school.
Some 5,000 teenagers in Sabah drop out of school every year, even before sitting the Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination.
The Huminodun Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on the welfare and development of women and children, acknowledges the problem.
Its chairman, Datin Marie Galun, said its main agenda this year would be to organise motivational talks for rural children. She knows the problem well, having "adopted" a child who had almost given up on school five years ago.
Her businessman husband, Datuk Ajit Galun, recalled how a villager asked him to encourage the girl to stay in school.
"My wife and I did not even think twice. We kept in constant contact with her at the school hostel, checked on her progress, spoke to her and brought her home during short holidays.
"She eventually proved herself and we have high hopes for her," said Ajit when met at a recent golf tournament held here to raise funds for the foundation.
The Partners of Communities Sabah (Pacos) is also working on the problem by going right down to the "roots".
Pacos is helping 23 community kindergartens across the state, with hopes of building a stronger foundation for rural children before they start primary school.
Its early child care coordinator, Rufina Koyou, said it trained villagers to become teachers at kindergartens in their villages.
"Unlike most urban children who can read and write before they start primary school, many rural children are deprived of pre-school education. We try to help where we can.
"By setting up the community kindergarten, it gives them a fighting chance."
| 
