Hope in the Classroom

By bus, by car, by bike and on foot, between 7:30am and 8:00am, Monday to Friday, primary school age children arrive at the JREC learning centre in Klang, Malaysia. With schoolbags almost eclipsing their little frames, they chat, giggle and shout as they excitedly run into class.

The curriculum taught at JREC is the same as the school down the road, but children come here because as refugees in Malaysia, learning centres like this are the only option they have to get an education.

With the humanitarian system facing catastrophic funding cuts, however, the few avenues available to refugee children to get an education in Malaysia are now at risk. The alternative to learning centres like JREC are mostly no schooling at all.

JREC centres providing Rohingya refugee children with access to education

“We started our community work with the refugees, specifically the Rohingya, back in 2006,” says Nur Datin Azlina Abdul Aziz, Executive Director of JREC and one of its founders. “And we were assisting the learning centres to help them secure funds to pay for their rental, utilities, and so on.”

After seeing that the children were not progressing in their studies at these other informal schools, JREC founders decided to establish their own learning centres. “We believe that these kids have the potential,” she explains. “Given the opportunity, they can excel.”

Persatuan Jaringan Islam Global Masa Depan – or JREC for short – is a Malaysian non-governmental organisation operating five learning centres for Rohingya children, following the Malaysian primary and secondary school standards.

“We started this [Klang] school back in 2012,” recalls Datin Azlina. “And more than 90 per cent of our kids here, they are among the Rohingya refugees.”

Malaysia hosts some 200,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from Myanmar. Without national refugee legislation to protect people forced to flee, refugees in Malaysia cannot access basic rights and services, including legal employment and public education. Alternative learning centres like JREC are the only place where refugee children can go to school.

“Our main objective is to develop these kids, to nurture them to be the potential leaders of their own community in 10 years' time,” says Datin Azlina.

Facing social and financial challenges

Over the years, JREC has worked with a wide network of supportive partners, including UNHCR. It has also faced multiple challenges, including opposition within the community driven by xenophobia.

“We understand people are talking bad things about Rohingya people and so on,” says Datin Azlina.

“I remember when we attended one of the workshops along with other NGOs, one particular friend stood up and said there's no point of you teaching science subjects to the primary kids. Just teach them basic arithmetic, reading and writing. That's all.

“We took that as a challenge. And we are very happy and proud to say that our kids are able to complete primary education, move on to secondary education, and after the end of the fifth year, they managed to sit for the public examination.”

The academic success of the students was not enough to overcome all the challenges. Significant cuts to humanitarian funding in 2025 brought further difficulties to JREC, such as forcing them to suspend school transport services. Attendance and enrolment dropped as a result.

“You're talking about kids who are staying in communities even 10 kilometres away, they do not have access to safe public transport. Parents are worried about the safety of the kids. So we have about half of them who are not coming to school since July. So that's very sad to see them away.”

JREC has also had to reduce the number of classrooms at some of its learning centres, and close one centre in eastern Malaysia, leaving some 150 refugee children out of school.

“The girls, of course you're talking about early marriage, and even that also they will have to go to work to help secure income for the family and so on,” says Datin Azlina.

Remaining hopeful for the future, and for the children

Until JREC has the funds to restore all its classrooms and start providing transportation for children once again, the Monday to Friday morning giggles outside the learning centres are quieter than they once were.

Datin Azlina remains hopeful for the future of the learning centres and for the children themselves. “When you look into their eyes, you know that there is hope for them for the future,” she says, surrounded by grinning 10-year olds.

“So it may be next month, it may be next year, it may be in two years' time, we do not know [when] things will recover. And we are not going to give up.”

“We really wish that one day, sooner or later, people will open their eyes and see that each one has to do something for these people.”