The lived experiences and non-formal education of Malaysian ‘Orang Asli (Native People) youngsters

Mohd Haniff Mohd Tahir

Abstract

Even though we have effectively completed a fifth of this new century, non-formal education through community-based learning and other traditional avenues of learning persist as powerful forces in the growth of the human lifespan, particularly for native peoples who have thousands of years of local knowledge. Focusing on Malaysia’s Orang Asli (native peoples), this study was conducted to map the field until a more detailed research project is undertaken for the next two years at the Royal Belum State Park in Perak State, Malaysia. Six Orang Asli adolescents (three females and three males) from two local higher learning institutions in Perak were interviewed individually and through focus group sessions regarding their engagement with non-formal education within their own communities, from when they were much younger up to this present time. This study focuses on three non-formal educational permutations as operationalised by our guiding (research) questions. First, as tales of the world around the participants that were shared in their communities by their elders and transmitted from one generation to the next one. Second, as an understanding of first-hand aboriginal knowledge that is unique to their own cultures and still practised by some members of the group. And third, as a complementary form of education that goes hand in hand with the formal schooling process, especially for young children of Orang Asli descent. The ‘thick’ qualitative data presented and discussed in this study deepen our understanding of non-formal education for and by the Orang Asli in Malaysia, as examined through contemporary lenses. Keywords: Adolescent Development, Community-Based Learning, Indigenous Knowledge, Native Peoples, Non-Formal Education, Qualitative Research.

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