Community Learning Centres in Malaysia Reduce Child Labour on Indonesian Palm Oil Plantations
The presence of Indonesian community learning centres (CLCs) in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia, aims to reduce the involvement of Indonesian migrant workers’ (PMI) children in following their parents to work in oil palm plantations.
This was conveyed by Romi Rullyandi, a teacher at CLC Cerdas in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, in a discussion with ANTARA, in connection with National Children’s Day and ahead of the month of Indonesian independence.
“The presence of CLCs has already minimised parents involving their children in work,” said Romi.
CLCs are educational centres providing primary school (SD) and junior secondary school (SMP) facilities for the children of Indonesian migrant workers, particularly those in Sabah and Sarawak, regions where many PMI work on plantations.
Romi said that before CLCs existed in some plantation areas, quite a number of PMI involved their children in work, whether simply taking them to the work site or even having the children help collect oil palm fruit in the plantation.
According to Romi, the presence of CLCs spread across almost all oil palm plantation companies in Sabah and Sarawak, as well as in several urban areas, has been very helpful in fulfilling the educational needs of PMI children.
“These CLCs are intended to facilitate educational services for PMI children, although the education provided at CLCs is currently limited to primary and junior secondary levels only,” said Romi.
Raden Ahmad Romadhoni, Education Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in Kuala Lumpur, told ANTARA that, based on data from Sekolah Indonesia Kota Kinabalu (SIKK), as of May 2026 there were 302 CLCs in eastern Malaysia, covering Sabah and Sarawak.
This figure comprises 240 CLCs in Sabah and 62 CLCs in Sarawak.
Of all these CLCs, those already holding operating permits number 97 in Sabah and 16 in Sarawak. Meanwhile, another 44 CLCs are still applying for permits, and the remainder have yet to apply.
The total number of CLC pupils in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sarawak is 22,031.