Educational Integration of Refugee Children in Malaysia: A Scoping Review

Malaysia is among the biggest hosts of refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in Southeast Asia, of whom the majority are Rohingya Muslims. In Malaysia, RAS children are not allowed to enroll in public schools and therefore rely on a non-formal parallel education system that comprises learning centers run by refugee communities, NGOs, and faith-based organizations. To date, little research is available on initiatives that attempt to integrate RAS children into Malaysian society through education. This study aims to gather evidence on the current situation of RAS children’s education in Malaysia and answer the following questions: (a) what is the current state of evidence? and (b) to what extent has existing research/evidence addressed the question of RAS children integration into the national education system? We conducted a scoping review that gathers and summarizes findings from existing studies using a specific strategy: selection of keywords and systematic search through online databases, followed by screening of papers based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Our findings showed that the overall body of evidence is small, with most studies describing the challenges and barriers faced by RAS children in accessing formal/non-formal and quality education. There was little focus and discussion on integrating RAS children into the national education system, which perhaps is due to the underlying assumption that Malaysia remains a transit country for RAS, and not a destination for permanent settlement.