The Sarawak Women and Family Council wants the Education Department to provide counseling teachers, especially for small rural schools with Penan children due to the high dropout rate among them, its chairperson Fatimah Abdullah said today.

Fatimah, who is also assistant minister in the Chief Minister's Office (Human Resource and Training), said the council was concerned that rural children, including Penan, had access to education by looking at the various ways and means to help them adapt to a totally new environment.

the antidote article sarawak native logging school children 280409 06 "It is quite common in rural areas in Sarawak that the locality of schools is far and we realised that the dropout rate is quite high and such career and guidance teachers can help them to pick up and adapt," she told reporters after launching the Wisma Smart readers, Kolej Sri Sarawak branch in Kuching.

She said the council, which met last Friday to discuss a report by the National Action Committee of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development on the sexual exploitation of Penan women and children, expressed concern over the safety and security of all children, especially in not falling behind in their education.

The report, among others, found that the Penans felt neglected because of negative perceptions and prejudices against them while their children had a high drop-out rate at school.

As the state's least developed community, they also had little access to registration, healthcare and education due to poverty and the remoteness of their settlements.

Penan woman changes rape story

On the case of a 22-year-old Penan woman from Long Itam, Baram who denied she was a rape victim after filing a report on the matter at the Long Lama police station last Saturday, Fatimah said it was up to the police to verify its authenticity.

The mother of two was reported by the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) as being raped.

Earlier, Fatimah said the state government approved the setting up of an Early Childhood Development Council in August this year to monitor the quality of pre-school education in the state and identify an education module suitable for children attending pre-school in interior and remote areas.

Surveys showed that 39 percent of children in Sarawak had undergone pre-school ecuation in their early years, she said.

- Bernama