The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling for children worldwide. Most vulnerable are non-citizen children without access to public education. This study aims to explore challenges faced in achieving education access for children of refugee and asylum-seekers, migrant workers, stateless and undocumented persons in Malaysia during the pandemic. In-depth interviews of 33 stakeholders were conducted from June 2020 to March 2021. Data were thematically analysed. Our findings suggest that lockdowns disproportionately impacted non-citizen households as employment, food and housing insecurity were compounded by xenophobia, exacerbating pre-existing inequities. School closures disrupted school meals and deprived children of social interaction needed for mental wellbeing. Many non-citizen children were unable to participate in online learning due to the scarcity of digital devices, and poor internet connectivity, parental support, and home learning environments. Teachers were forced to adapt to online learning and adopt alternative arrangements to ensure continuity of learning and prevent school dropouts. The lack of government oversight over learning centres meant that measures taken were not uniform. The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for the design of more inclusive national educational policies, by recognising and supporting informal learning centres, to ensure that no child is left behind.

Education is a fundamental human right. Yet there remain gaps in our understanding of undocumented children in Malaysia and their vulnerabilities in education access. This study aims to describe and contextualise undocumented children in Malaysia and their access to education. We conducted a desk review and in-depth interviews with 33 key stakeholders from June 2020 to March 2021. Framework analysis was conducted. Salient themes were geographical location and legal identity in terms of citizenship and migration status. We found that the lack of legal identity and non-recognition by the State was the root cause of vulnerability, experienced uniformly by undocumented populations in Malaysia. Only undocumented children with Malaysian parents or guardians can enter public schools under the Malaysian government’s ‘Zero Reject Policy’. Most undocumented and non-citizen children must rely on informal education provided by alternative or community learning centres that typically lack standardised curricula, resources, and accreditation for education progression beyond primary levels. Nevertheless, as non-citizen groups are diverse, certain groups experience more privilege, while others are more disadvantaged in terms of the quality of informal education and the highest level of education accessible. In Peninsular Malaysia, a very small proportion of refugees and asylum-seekers may additionally access tertiary education on scholarships. In Sabah, children of Indonesian migrant workers have access to learning centres with academic accreditation supported by employers in plantations and the Indonesian Consulate, whereas Filipino migrants who were initially recognised as refugees are now receiving little government or embassy support. Stateless Rohingya refugees in Peninsular Malaysia and Bajau Laut children at Sabah are arguably the most marginalised and have the poorest educational opportunities at basic literacy and numeracy levels, despite the latter receiving minimal governmental education support. Implementing a rights-based approach towards education would mean allowing all children equal opportunity to access and thrive in high-quality schools.

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Stratified random sampling is an effective sampling technique for estimating the population characteristics. The determination of strata boundaries and the allocation of sample size to the strata is one of the most critical factors in maximizing the precision of the estimates. Most surveys are conducted in an environment of severe budget constraints and a specific time is required to finish the survey. So cost and time are especially very important objectives of most surveys thus they are necessitating to be under consideration. The study suggested Mathematical goal programming model for determining optimum stratum boundaries for an exponential study variable under multiple objectives model when cost and time are under consideration. To evaluate the performance for the suggested model for the exponential distribution a numerical example is presented. The results of the suggested mathematical goal programming are satisfying.

Background: Most women (78%) reported their sleep quality to be worse during the childbearing period than in any other time of their lives. Postpartum sleep disturbances are caused by the natural physiological alterations that follow childbirth. Aim: Is to assess the sleeping quality index among postpartum mothers and to determine the impact of educational intervention on improvement of postpartum sleeping pattern alterations. Design: Randomized control trial design. Sample: Consisted of (550) women immediately after delivery and divided into two main groups 275 for each. Study group received educational intervention booklet about good sleeping pattern and followed at 15 th day and after 42 nd day postpartum at Al Azhar Assiut University Hospital. The second group received the routine hospital care. Tools: Socio demographic data, the current delivery outcomes and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, 2016 questionnaire. Results: About two thirds (65.8%) of the study group had moderate sleep quality Vs. (69.8%) of the control group with no statistical significant difference between both groups immediately after delivery. While there are highly statistical significant difference between both groups after 15 th days and after 42 nd days postpartum (P=0.000), for sleep quality items. Conclusion: Maternal sleep quality improved after 15 day and 42 day postpartum after implementing sleeping educational intervention. Recommendations: Further efforts are needed through educational intervention programs by nurses to improve maternal sleeping quality during pregnancy and the postpartum period.