Cultural and environmental factors in the educational performance of Malaysian aboriginal children: A Kelantan case study

Uplifting the standard of living of vulnerable groups such as the aboriginal communities has always taken centre stage in Malaysia’s long struggle for inclusive and equitable development. Towards this end formal education for the aboriginal children is considered the ultimate mechanism. This article aims to identify and analyse the actualfactors that influence the educational performance of the aboriginal children. The study was conducted at the School of Pos Brooke and Pos Pulat in the District of Gua Musang, Kelantan. Data for this study were obtained through field observations, questionnaire surveys and interviews of 26 school teachers and 50 aboriginal parents. In general, the results showed that the overall educational performance of the aboriginal children in the study area was very low despite the implementation of various infrastructures and educational programmes specially tailored for them. Factors influencing such a sorry state of affair had been identified to be the indifferent attitude of parents towards their children’s education, the children’s own lack of motivation, the impeding physical environment, and certain cultural elements that hindered the children educational development and proved gravely challenging for the teachers. To rectify the situation the educational programme for the aboriginal people would need somerestructuring and tinkering by the relevant agencies and authorities.