KOTA KINABALU, Feb. 28 -- In Sabah, it is estimated that there are around 300,000 marginalised children - oftentimes stereotyped as "rowdy street kids" guilty of begging, sniffing glue or just being generally raucous.

Realising how these children often end up on the streets since they cannot attend local schools, Marilou Salgatar Chin - who operates an employment agency in the city centre here - decided to take things into her hands in 2012.

"I see them every day. With no structure in their lives, they turn to unhealthy distractions and, eventually, crime or prostitution. This is not the life I want for them," she told Malay Mail in a recent interview.

Chin founded Stairway to Hope, a school for underprivileged children that now teache...