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You are watching UNICEF Television.

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Old rhythms of life are quickening in this remote community in northern Malaysia.

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A change of pace that begins with children under six years old.

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For these young indigenous boys and girls, preschool is a time for fun and food.

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But it's giving them something most of their parents never had, a formal education.

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They are Temayar, one of 18 ethnic groups in Malaysia known as Orang Asli, or original people.

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The Orang Asli have long lived in isolated communities, with little access to proper schools and health care.

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Some 80% of Orang Asli children never complete secondary school.

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Seema Asir is part of an initiative to change that.

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She is the teacher of a new preschool built by the Community Development Department of the

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Ministry of Regional and Rural Development.

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Her job involves not only managing children, but also dealing with sceptical parents.

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Generally, indigenous parents are still not very interested in education.

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They see this preschool as a place to send their children to play and eat.

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But when they see people from outside the community showing interest in their children,

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they grow more conscious of the need for education.

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But it's hard. We need to do this regularly.

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UNICEF and the Malaysian government are working to train some 300 preschool teachers and supervisors

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and reach out to more than 18,000 parents and guardians in rural areas.

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The workshops stress the importance of boosting early childhood development,

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offering tips on learning activities, nutrition and child psychology.

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We've noticed that parents in these communities have very little parenting skills.

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They are feeding their children extremely unhealthy food,

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and the children are not doing well in terms of development.

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So we try to teach them why children need an education,

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why the children need to learn to read and write,

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because it really improves their chances later on in life.

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Planting skills for a new generation of Orang Asli,

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so they can craft their own choices for the future.

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In Greek Malaysia, this is Steve Nettleton reporting for UNICEF Television.

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Unite for Children.