A Case Study of Drama Education for Indigenous Children in The Alternative Classroom

The alternative classroom has recently attracted much attention as it can engage and encourage children while teaching them life skills. This study briefly investigated the impact of drama lessons on the growth of indigenous students in one of West Malaysia's orang Asli communities. It is essential in widening the option of teaching approach because it would enable educators and indigenous students to learn more about drama as an alternative approach to learning. Through drama education, the children would also be introduced to various learning experiences and classroom settings. This paper investigates how drama is used as a method in the alternative classroom for indigenous children. It hopes to prove that children will be interested in learning and be able to develop their social skills if given more opportunities. In the qualitative study, the instruments employed to investigate what transpired throughout the activities were observation and interviews. Findings of this research reveals positive outcomes of drama, categorised into learning from real-life situations. It also highlights the use of drama to improve the children's non-verbal communication. The findings can be used as a guideline for practitioners to get a general overview of how drama can be used as a teaching approach in the alternative classroom and could be a discovery for the curriculum planner to implement drama for both formal and informal learning. This study could be complemented by future research on the challenges involved in teaching drama to indigenous children. Other than this, observation periods should be longer and more frequent because social and educational progress takes time to develop. Finally, future researchers may need to think about using alternative drama strategies that would fit the children's abilities. objectives. The six 2025 are knowledge, thinking abilities, leadership abilities, bilingualism, ethics and spirituality, and national identity. These objectives will help students compete on a global scale. The use of the drama teaching style is hoped to help students realise all their goals.

Introduction
Drama is a form of performing, a way to express oneself, and a way to learn. Because it influences pupils mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally, it is an effective teaching method. Exercises in improvisation, playwriting, and scenario re-enactment are intended to enhance participants' creative thinking and support the development of their analytical thinking abilities. The benefits of drama as a teaching approach aligns with educational objectives. The six educational objectives listed in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 are knowledge, thinking abilities, leadership abilities, bilingualism, ethics and spirituality, and national identity. These objectives will help students compete on a global scale. The use of the drama teaching style is hoped to help students realise all their goals.
Every person's quality of life is influenced by various factors, including the standard of their education. Numerous researchers, like Tap (2005); Katt (2007); Walke (2008), contend that indigenous people have a poor quality of life (Mohd Fauzi & Nor Aini, 2012). These children experience a variety of academic issues in school. Their lack of enthusiasm for education, low academic performance, memory challenges, absenteeism rate, lack of parental involvement, poverty, and transportation issues are a few of the problems noted by their educators (Nor et al., 2016). The delivery system, which includes teachers and those in charge of students' education and the health of the educational system, is also partly to blame for the problems experienced. Due to these issues, the less fortunate children choose to drop out or not go to school and start working at a young age. Selvaratnam et al. (2012) found that several factors prevent these indigenous students from obtaining a high-quality education. First, due to the high poverty rate for living in underdeveloped areas, many indigenous students in Year 1 do not receive pre-school education and begin their primary literacy and numeracy later in their years (Sawalludin et al., 2020). Furthermore, most indigenous pupils do not speak Malay language as their mother tongue. This prevents them from learning (Nor et al., 2016). Due to their inability to comprehend the teachers during teaching and learning sessions, the disadvantaged children may lose interest in their studies due to this language barrier. Second, teachers and school officials claim that the current training programmes do not sufficiently prepare to deal with this society's complexities (Nor et al., 2016).
In Chapter 4 of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has prepared alternative programmes or classrooms to reduce dropout rates among the indigenous groups. The same is covered in further detail in Chapter 4 with the heading "Equity and Education" of the 2013-2017 Aboriginal Education Transition Plan in the Malaysian Education Development Plan Annual Report. The Comprehensive Special School Program K9, Orang Asli and Indigenous Adult Classes, and the Integrated Curriculum Program of Orang Asli and Penan (KAP) Schools are all carefully designed initiatives whose goal is to raise the educational standards of these underrepresented groups (Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013, p.22).
The above regulations demonstrate that MOE fully understands that indigenous people cannot just rely on formal education. MOE intends for all initiative programmes to impact the student's education. Consequently, an alternative classroom could have a different impact than a traditional classroom. Increasing teacher and student participation is one advantage of the alternative classroom (Swing et al., 1988). This is likely a result of the alternative classroom's informal environment, which encourages pupils to overcome their shyness and ask questions. Providing more comprehensive learning resources, such as notes and exercises, as well as the teacher's undivided attention, is another advantage of the alternative classroom (Ke, 2008).
In Malaysia, indigenous (Orang Asli) children are usually left behind in educational and social development (Aini et al., 2019). The explanation for the problem is they do not enter a primary school or, if they do, become dropouts before entering secondary school (Aini et al., 2019). Dr Mazlee Malik, a former Minister of Education, highlighted that more than 700 indigenous children did not attend school in 2018 (Lu, 2019). He further stressed that the problem was that they were not interested in learning and preferred to work or get married early. Moreover, they could not attend school because the schools were located too far from their home, or they could not afford the school's expenses (Lu, 2019).
For this study, we introduced an alternative program, which uses drama to engage the children and offers them a well-organised play environment. One of the benefits of the alternative classroom is increased engagement between the facilitator and the students (Swing et al., 1998). This is probably because the alternative classroom is made personalised based on the needs of the children. Furthermore, compared to the typical traditional classrooms where teachers should teach students according to a pre-set schedule, learning in the alternative classroom allows the teacher to give students full attention in ample time to improve learning. This could trigger the students to focus more on education and be engaged with the learning sessions (Sliwka, 2008). Drama is a medium for self-expression and learning that affects students' mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. Improvisation and scenario re-enactment exercises aim to improve the participants' imaginative ability and help build their analytical thinking skills. Implementing drama in a formal classroom is quite rare in the Malaysian context, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, a search on the qualitative study for drama teaching to the Orang Asli children found that minimal research is being carried out in this area. There are various programs for indigenous children, but no program for drama learning exists.
This paper aims to study the perceived efficacy of drama instruction in the alternative classroom for indigenous children. It intends to answer the following research questions: • What are the indigenous children's learning experiences through drama?
• How do indigenous children perceive the effects of drama?
Generally, in the Malaysian context, drama teaching is relatively uncommon among teachers because teachers usually only follow the planned curriculum by the Ministry of Education. However, this project was conducted with the indigenous children of an Orang Asli settlement in Johor. They were assisted in learning through drama which focused on improving children's social development. Therefore, the study of using drama to teach indigenous children in the alternative classroom should be explored more for educators to help these children. For this reason, this study investigates whether drama teaching could be used as an approach for indigenous children by exploring their learning experiences.

Literature Review Education for the Indigenous Children
Generally, indigenous children can be categorised as slow learners because they have problems with education. In addition, they may have low cognition, which refers to the psychological process's memory, concentration, learning, thinking, and motor production coordination (Swaminathan et al., 2019). Besides, the indigenous children could also be struggling with their social skills. They are usually shy around people, cannot communicate properly because of the language barrier, and do not socialise with others apart from their community (Afizi et al., 2014). According to Rosnon & Talib (2019), to provide the Orang Asli children with the necessary preparation for mainstream education, JHEOA administered the schools and educational programmes for the Orang Asli on their own. They further cited that JHEOA's oversight of the educational system was ineffective (Ikram, 1997) and that the lack of training for the instructors, poor financing, and educators' ignorance of Orang Asli cultures and traditions were the leading causes of this failure (Department of Orang Asli Affairs, 1995).
Several factors hinder these indigenous learners' access to quality education (Selavaratnam et al., 2012). First, many indigenous students during Year 1 do not receive pre-school education and start their primary literacy and numeracy later in their years because of the high poverty rate and the tendency to live in undeveloped areas (Sawalludin et al., 2020). Furthermore, Malay, the national language of Malaysians, is not a native language for most indigenous students. This becomes an obstacle to learning (Md Nor et al., 2016). This language barrier could explain why the indigenous children lose interest in studying as they cannot understand the teachers during the teaching and learning session. Second, school administrators and teachers report that the existing training programs do not adequately equip them to deal with this society's complexities (Nor et al., 2016). Thus, these administrators and educators might have problems helping the indigenous students build engagement between them and explaining to them the importance of education.
Various educational programs have been planned to enhance the education and social development of indigenous children in Malaysia (Aini et al., 2019). These programs aim to generate their interest in learning and improve their educational background. Volunteer teachers have created alternative schools or classroom programs such as 'Kelas Kaseh' (Roslan, 2018). Instead of bringing the indigenous children to school, the educators would bring the school to them. They would learn beyond the traditional classroom, which focuses on developing their interests in learning. Indigenous children may experience several educational issues in school, including a lack of interest in education, poor academic performance, memory issues, a high absenteeism rate, a lack of parental involvement, poverty, and transportation issues (Nor et al., 2016). Besides these, some indigenous children may not have attended formal learning. Because of these problems, the indigenous children choose to drop out or not go to school at all and start working at a young age.

Drama as an Approach to Teaching Indigenous Children
Drama is one of the teaching approaches that provide a basis for developing substantive language skills, making students use and improve their language abilities. It is process-centred in which a leader directs the participants to visualise, reflect, and conduct human experience (Demircioglu, 2010). Several studies promote pupils' educational drama to facilitate personal and social development and improve self-concept, self-discrepancy, and role-taking skills (Coban, 2017;Saerani, 2019;DICE Consortium, 2010). In drama, children could experience living with various characters that will give them a willingness to take risks to solve problems. With this attitude, children could improve their personal development. In addition, creating learning in a fun surrounding can encourage children to learn better. Thus, drama will be used as an approach in the alternative classroom to increase the children's interest in learning for this study.
The theory of constructivism synthesises behavioural and cognitive principles that allow children to learn from what they have experienced (Amine & Asl, 2015). In constructivism's philosophy, the essential thing is to emphasise the learner in the learning process. The elements that influence constructivist learning are: (a) giving to authentic learning, (b) the process is prioritised, (c) teaching and learning in the context of social experience, and (d) establishing experience through learning (Suhendi & Purwarno, 2018). According to a study, engaging in learning improves learners' creativity and self-directed learning to improve cognitive development (Mingazova, 2014). Thus, drama offers a special and irreplaceable educational experience that combines thoughts and emotions, leading to a type of education that is more realistic (Mavroudis & Bournelli, 2016). Additionally, drama boosts children's selfesteem and spontaneity while reducing inhibitions and feelings of loneliness (Demircioǧlu, 2010). Using the constructivism learning theory, the researchers could measure the educational development of the indigenous children by observing their ability to deliver the performance by imitating the facilitators and generating ideas for problem-solving during the drama rehearsal. In addition, these criteria could be measured based on the children's attitude during the drama training.
In sociocultural theory, an important concept known as the zone of proximal growth proves the effectiveness of drama in improving interpersonal relationships between children, encouraging cooperation, and developing self-confidence (Joronen et al., 2011). Each child demonstrates their expertise experiences personal experience to interact and connect with other children to complete the collaborative act. As a result, children gain socially, escape from their daily identity, abandon their shyness, and communicate more openly by participating in drama. This technique empowers learners and encourages them to develop the trust and self-esteem required to act spontaneously. In a non-threatening situation, even students who are not naturally talkative seem more likely to join in and be more actively involved. Hence, for this research, they should be able to learn from their past experiences to solve a problem that arises during drama training.

Research Method
To better comprehend a research issue, this study employed a qualitative methodology based on interpretivism and constructivist approaches (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018). By better revealing people's distinctive opinions and their significance to those viewpoints, the researchers hoped to increase knowledge (Tomaszewski et al., 2020). This study used a qualitative approach because of the nature of the study, which is a case study of drama teaching. The case study design can be used if the researcher is interested in and actively involved in a project's structure, procedures, and results (Wee, 2011). According to Zainal (2015), a case study design enables the researcher to evaluate the data in a particular setting carefully. For this study, we chose a minimal geographic area or a minimal number of respondents. The four meetings were not carried out in the usual classroom but in the children's natural settings, which was where they were located. This case study fits well with research on drama education because drama, by its very nature, could be a rare experience for children (Wee, 2011). Based on the preceding, we concluded that the case study design is the most appropriate for the research since it adheres to the method for educational purposes.
The participants of this study were 20 indigenous children aged between 5 to 14 years old in a selected district in Johor, Malaysia. A convenient sampling technique was used to choose the participants because they are easy and ready to be approached by the researcher (Taherdoost, 2016). Of these 20 participants, only four children attended formal learning in school, while the rest were illiterate. 11 children showed up for the lesson on the first day, and 14 showed up on the second day. The third session was attended by 15, and the last by 17 children. All participants are identified in this research using pseudonyms to protect their identities. The facilitators' pseudonyms are Farhan, Aisyah, and Farah. The children are referred to as Haikal, Huda, Aiman, Irfan, Fatin, Aira, Huda, Aina, and Nuri during this time.
Three facilitators led the workshops. Farhan: the first facilitator, is a volunteer for an NGO. He taught the children basic reading and math. Since the kids are familiar with Farhan, his presence was crucial in ensuring they took part in the lessons. Farah and Aisyah, both are language instructors at a public university had no prior experience teaching drama to the indigenous children. However, they do have some basics on training children in drama.
In this study, the researchers used an observation sheet to observe the participants and their progress. The observation sheet, adapted from Wiarsih (2017)  The drama lessons were developed into four consecutive sessions. Before the sessions, the facilitators met with the head of the indigenous group to seek an understanding of what worked best for the children. A module was developed for data collection. Due to the pandemic, the length of the proposed module had to be limited to four meetings. Classes were held at the makeshift hut by the beach, at the playground where the children played and in an enclosed area around the village.
The initial meeting included an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm tale "The Fisherman and His Wife" and drama games for the children. In the second session, the facilitators played another round of drama games and showed the children some paintings. The backdrop for the story presented at the final session was given to all the kids to colour in the second session. The facilitators attempted to introduce some letters to the kids during the third meetup and set up a game of sentence rearranging. Following the game, the children were given musical instruments and encouraged to practise the taught melody. The story introduced to the kids at the first session was showcased during the final meet-up. The children's use of props and the music they learned were incorporated during the showcase.
Data analysis was done using thematic analysis. We examined several themes during the analysis to respond to the study questions, such as how drama promotes learning through experience and real-life situations, children's learning capacity, cognitive development, and non-verbal communication. The interview's goal was to confirm the lessons the participants had acquired. Details from the transcripts were carefully examined to assist with the research subjects.

Findings and Discussion
In this study, we organise the findings into four criteria: the learning experience concerning actual life situation, the children's learning abilities, their cognitive growth, and the development of the children's non-verbal communication skills.

Learning Experiences
According to constructivism learning theory, children can learn by making connections between new information and experiences that are already familiar to them (Olusegun, 2016). Based on the findings, only Haikal could connect the story's scene with his actual life. Living close to a large city exposes Haikal to large homes, which he then compares to what he has learned. Due to his exposure to a real school setting, Haikal was more mature. Farhan further remarked that drama instruction benefits them because it is connected to their culture. "I think the drama class is practical for them as it is close to their culture. They also have their culture such as cultural dance" (Farhan). Thus, for the children to relate to what they have learned, they must know something familiar.
Findings from the study also reveal that the children acquired new learning experiences from drama teaching. All children showed positive feelings and feedback after the drama lessons. During one of the drama sessions, the children were asked to prepare the props and backdrop for the final showcase, while in another session, they were asked to practise music for the showcase. They were given paints, brushes, and canvas to work with. The lesson was a collaborative learning experience for each of them, and the facilitators agreed that drama allowed the children to experience something new. In an interview, one of the facilitators mentioned, "I thought if we give them something to work with like painting, so they have a project to work on, it turned out to be quite successful. Able to come up with a backdrop. But not on the third session with the music activity. Things get out of hand. They are distracted by musical instruments. They would not pay attention. However, it is helpful. Somehow, they are exposed to classroom situation" (Aisyah, facilitator). The drama exposed the children to the formal classroom environment and allowed the children to interact freely with the facilitators. Another facilitator, Farah, also agreed that acting enables them to participate in the process by doing, feeling, and thinking when she mentioned, "I feel like the drama is a great tool, not a tool but a learning experience" (Farah). Physical environment and culture would aid in enhancing the children's learning, according to (Afizi et al., 2014). Therefore, individuals would learn effectively when the learning materials are familiar. Learning through drama was meaningful since the children could use what they already knew and be mindful of their surroundings.
The findings also uncover that the children managed to experience new things such as painting and dramatizing. The two facilitators, Aisyah and Farah, agreed that drama teaching was a great learning experience for the children to expose them to the classroom environment and gain new learning experiences as they had not encountered any drama class before. Hence, the children can gain a learning experience when guided and interact with the facilitators directly during the drama lesson (Kalin & Šteh, 2015). Although this was their first experience learning through drama, the children adapted and completed the given task. Evidence of enjoyment of the lessons is revealed in the following excerpts.
"Yes, I want to learn more" (Fatin, 11 years old). "I like story-telling" (Aira, seven years old). "I like week's activity because I love to paint and do the colouring activity" (Huda, 14 years old). "I like last week's because I love the story-telling more" (Aina, nine years old).
More positive feelings about the drama lessons are noted after the third session. Aira indicated that she enjoyed playing music on the third day of the class, "I like this week's lesson because I am having fun playing music." (Aira, seven years old). In addition, another child also had fun and loved playing the instruments when she responded with her preference for music, "I like the lesson because I can play music" (Fatin, 11 years old).
Some children preferred painting, and some preferred music over other activities. Based on the children's answers, the words such as 'love,' 'fun,' and 'like' described their positive feelings toward the activities they conducted. Ten children chose the painting activity as their favourite, and six preferred the story-telling activity. Overall, all children responded positively to the activities undertaken from the first session to the last session of the drama. More importantly, their preferred activities are based on personal preference, interest, and talent. This is because drama creates a fun learning environment that builds their interest in learning drama.

Learning Abilities
Observation during the first session reveals that all children could keep up with all the activities. However, the first activity was warmer, a physical activity in which they played a physical game with the facilitator.
They were also able to comprehend instructions during the presentation of the rules of the games. Despite having a disability in reading, they listened attentively during the story-telling activity. The facilitators included singing in the activity to increase their interest in the story. All children managed to focus, but their attention span lasted only five minutes. During the story-telling training, one of the children gave her opinion, "…because Ibu is not happy with the current house. She wanted a bigger house" (Nuri, 12 years old).
Self-directed learning among the children was conveyed when they did the painting activity during the second session. Some children had no difficulty completing the training but some needed guidance. The facilitators provided only base colours such as red, yellow, blue, and black. To get the desired colour, the older children initiated mixing colours without asking for help, while the younger ones needed to be taught to hold the brushes. In addition, three older children were willing to help the facilitator manage the younger children. The facilitator said in the interview, "We used the oldest child to help us facilitate the activity. Little children listen more to older children. In the third session, it was challenging to facilitate the children because the older ones were not there because they had to help their parents collect fish bait for fishing" (Aisyah).
According to the findings, the older children showed outstanding self-directed learning. This statement is supported by Foushee et al., where self-directed learning happens when children can use their information and be independent in tasks (Foushee et al., 2021). Thus, the instructors would help manage the older children to complete the job and give more attention to teaching the younger children.

Cognitive Growth
Observation from all four sessions reveals the children's cognitive development. This analysis focuses on the children's ability to recall past lessons. After each session, the instructors would recap what the children had learned for the day and if they could remember the story they told. Answers given by the children varied. Among the responses, the children answered, "Listen to a story about a fisherman who caught a magical fish" (Aina, nine years old). Another child, Haikal mentioned the event of the story, "The wife wanted a bigger house" (Haikal, 12 years old), and Huda answered, "Lastly, the wife asked for the world, but she got her old house back" (Huda, 14 years old). Based on the findings, most children have a strong memory of recalling the story they have learned. This is because the story-telling activity greatly impacted the children's interest and curiosity in learning. Thus, curiosity to acquire new information enhanced the learning and memory of the children (Fandakova & Gruber, 2021) and made them remember the story from the first session to the fourth session. The children also had good memories of what was taught when they answered, "We raced together" (Aiman, nine years old), and "I played an instrument, the birds sound!" (Irfan, seven years old).
An interesting finding to note is the differences in the colouring outcome done by the children in the second meeting. The artwork produced by the older girls aged from 11 to 14 years old was neat. They had chosen suitable colours based on their preferences for the sun and the palace on the backdrop. The older girls completed the task without help from the facilitators. The younger girls aged 7 to 10 painted the beach scenery accordingly and chose the right colours. The younger girls managed to complete the task with the help of one of the facilitators throughout the painting process. We noticed that the boys smeared their artwork with all the colours on their backdrop, while another artwork produced by a group of 6 to 8 years old boys portrays a backdrop stained in blue and black. It is noticeable that there is a difference between the girls' and boys' artwork production. The girls' colouring is much neater than the boys' work.
In contrast, the boys did not paint according to the scenery drawn on the canvas. Overall, the children's learning abilities were relatively low. Other than that, there were differences in the boys' and girls' painting styles affected by their maturation and age. The painting skills of boys and girls were different. Painting by the girls is more organised than painting by the boys. Painting the sun yellow and the sea blue allowed the girls to think realistically because it is how most people perceive those colours. The boys, however, did not paint the scene depicted on the canvas. Thus, according to Ouz (2010), age and maturation are two characteristics that affect how children paint. According to the painting, the girls' images displayed a higher level of maturity than the boys' paintings did since the females' pictures were more organised. Due to their inexperience and lack of exposure to paint at home or school, boys experienced lower maturation levels than girls.
The children's cognitive development shows the impact of drama education. According to the results, most children have a good memory and can remember the stories they have studied up until the very last minute. This is due to the story-telling activity significantly impacting the children's interest and curiosity about learning. Thus, according to Fandakova & Gruber (2021), the children's learning and memory were increased by their curiosity to discover new knowledge, which caused them to recall the narrative from the first session to the last session. However, they had a minimal attention span. All lessons were held for a maximum of 30 to 40 minutes. The students lost interest in the class after 40 minutes.
Findings from the interview with the facilitators also reveal that the children's attention span was relatively short. This is shown from the observations for all the lessons in four sessions in which the children's attention span was 30 to 40 minutes only. In an interview with Farah, the facilitator mentioned, "They had a problem with attention span. They did not have enough attention span" (Farah). Another instructor supported her comment, "It was difficult because there were not enough of us to go around. There are about 15 to 20 children, and only 4 of us. Not enough people to get everyone on board. That is why we only get to retain their attention for 30 to 40 minutes" (Aisyah). Attention span can be decreased if the children do not have school readiness (Liberati et al., 2018). As a result, they could not adapt to the school environment and continue to be left behind in developing their mental processes that support effective, goal-oriented learning and attention control approaches.
According to the results, we saw an increase in the children's self-esteem. Most notably, on the final day, children voluntarily offered to perform in front of their friends. Additionally, the kids exhibited the necessary emotions during the showcase, which helped them put on a solid performance. Furthermore, when the facilitators complimented them after they completed the activities, their confidence also improved. In addition, they were motivated by their selfinterest to display acting. As a result, the drama activity might promote cooperation and confidence building in children because they can show off their mastery in dramatising the story in the drama performance (Joronen et al., 2011).

Non-Verbal Communication Skills among Children
Drama provides the children with an opportunity to improve their nonverbal communication ability. Because children must use their bodies to communicate, nonverbal signals are essential for conveying messages. Observation of what went on during the sessions revealed that the younger children mostly used non-verbal communication with the facilitators. For example, one of the younger children passed a glue bottle to ask the facilitator to open the bottle for her. Even without saying anything, she understood the child's request by studying her body language. According to the findings, non-verbal communication was displayed by the younger children. This is because of the language barrier between the younger children and the facilitators. The younger children are more familiar with the Seletar language as it is commonly used at home. They did not attend school and had minimal exposure to the Malay language. Thus, the younger children used more non-verbal communication during the sessions. It is also observed that the children had no difficulty communicating with the older children. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that to motivate the children to learn, and facilitators need to build a supportive relationship using encouragement and feedback (Sword, 2020).

Conclusion
It can be said that the indigenous children positively received the drama. Throughout the lessons they developed socially and gained new learning experiences. In addition, the impact of drama in an alternative classroom for indigenous kids that provides a joyful learning atmosphere was measured for the first time in this study. Sadly, because of their poor attention span, the class only lasted 30 to 40 minutes. Finally, we also noticed that only the older kids demonstrated the ability to learn on their own. The smaller kids were entirely reliant on the facilitators.
This study is considered necessary in widening the choice of approach in teaching because it will help the educators and indigenous children explore more about drama as an alternative way of learning the language. This study will also help educators teach indigenous children to enhance their educational and social development through drama creatively. In addition, educators can also explore the indigenous children's problems in improving their education and social skills.
It may be drawn that using drama as a teaching method in an alternative classroom positively affects disadvantaged kids. Through learning drama, the children's social and educational development improved. When they participated in and carried out the activities, they also gained new learning experiences. The observation and interview questions were intended to stimulate the respondents to explore their views on drama. Additionally, this study was the first to assess how well drama works as an enjoyable alternative to the traditional classroom for underprivileged kids. As a result, the drama lesson was novel for disadvantaged children.
This study also provides a novel approach to stimulate children's curiosity about learning and encourage them to attend formal education The study would also open a new avenue for the Ministry of Education to develop a new children's curriculum. In addition, to ensure that no Malaysian indigenous child is excluded from education, the ministry of education may also establish an alternative classroom and be reminded to include drama in both formal and informal learning.


TRANSLATION AND VALIDATION OF GENDER MINORITY STRESS & RESILIENCE SCALE

The purpose of the present study was to translate Gender Minority Stress & Resilience Scale (GMSR; Testa, 2014) into Urdu language for construct validity of the scale for gender nonconforming individuals living in Pakistani culture. This purpose was accomplished in two phases. In the first phase, the GMSR Scale was translated in to Urdu language by following the steps of back translation method suggested by Brislin (1972).To establish the construct validity of GMSR Scale, data was collected in two phases, first from transgender community to determine convergent validity of the scale, in second stage from gender nonconformist individuals living in general population, a total of 420 gender nonconformist individuals, males(n =215) and females (n = 205) from different cities including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujrat, Sialkot and surrounding of these cities. Data was collected through snowball sampling from all these cities. Study participants were informed about the nature of the study and signed consent was obtained. Data was analyzed to establish construct validity of Urdu version of GMSR Scale. Results indicate that all scales and respective items of the Urdu version of original GMSR Scale show good fit. Reliability analysis through SPSS also indicated satisfactory values of Cronbach alpha. This study facilitated us to establish a valid and reliable measure for upcoming studies on Gender diversity and gender nonconformity in Pakistan using GMSR Scale.

INTRODUCTION
Gender diversity and gender nonconformity is becoming evident with the beginning of this era. With the advent of modern times, people want to express their gender diversities through expressions beyond binary gender categories. With the enactment of Law of third gender recognition (2012) and Law of self-identification (2018), a greater visibility of culturally existent subculture of transgender persons known as KhawajaSira in Pakistan was witnessed (Redding,2019). Along with the research on KhawajaSira community, gender nonconforming Individuals living in general population also needs to be included in research for better understanding of their experiences. GMSR Scale was translated to meet the needs of this population.
According to DSM -5, gender nonconforming behavior refers to somatic or behavioral features that are not characteristic of individuals with the same assigned gender in any society and historical era (American Psychological Association [APA], 2013).
Transgender and gender nonconforming persons have gender identities, behaviors, or actions that are not characteristically pertinent with their sex assigned at birth. They may associate more intensely with the opposite gender (e.g., FtM transgender persons female sex assigned at birth/ MtF transgender persons male sex assigned at birth), or they may categorize themselves beyond the gender binary (APA,2013;. In the Eighth Standard of Care of the World Professional Association for transgender Health (2022), gender nonconformity and Gender dysphoria are described as distinct but related phenomena (Coleman et al,2022). Gender nonconformity defines the possibility to which a person's gender role, identity or expression vary from the cultural rules recommended for a particular sex e.g, Deviant mannerisms and gestures, different dressing style, Others tend to perceive them as different or weird.
Meyer defined multiple ways in which gender minorities might experience minority stress (Meyer, 2015). Testa's model is based on Meyer's minority stress model, it reflects on the experiences of nonconformist individuals.
Meyer's minority stress model defines how social stress specific to LGBT people negatively impacts their mental health (Meyer,2015). Meyer highlighted ways in which gender nonconformist individuals may experience minority stress. One classification consists of distal or external stressors, includes episodes of discrimination, rejection, violence because one's identity. Such experiences of victimization are considered to escalate distress and effect mental health. Second classification of minority stressors consists of proximal or internal stressors. These stressors refer to the fear of further victimization and mistrust of others, internalized negative views about one's identity, and resultant stress of not disclosing one's identity (Meyer, 1995). Gender-related stressor such as discrimination, rejection, victimization, non -affirmation, exposure to transphobia, non -disclosure, and internalized transphobia have all been identified as strong indicators of psychopathology among transgender people, (Bocketing, 2013;Fredriksen-Goldsen et al., 2013) particularly among transgender youths (Nuttbrock et.al, 2010;Nuttbrock et.al, 2013).
Gender-related discrimination is unjust or prejudicial treatment because one's belonging or showing gender nonconforming attitude. Studies confirm that gender nonconforming individuals experience high levels of minority stressors like physical/ sexual violence, and internalized transphobia due to belonging to gender minority community (Marcellin et al.2013;Testa et al.,2014;Valentine & Shipherd, 2018). Gender-related rejection refers to deliberate exclusion of a person from social interaction. Literature has also reinforced the minority stress model, indicating strong links of higher level of rejection in nonconformist individuals as well as higher levels of minority stress (Meyer, 2015;2016).
Gender-related victimization is the action of singling out someone for cruel or unjust treatment. Gender-related victimization (verbal / physical) have been linked with suicide attempts. Examples of victimization would include physical and verbal abuse, sexual assault and blackmailing (Testa,2014). Non-affirmation of gender identity transpires if one's inner sense of gender identity is not acknowledged by society. Gender nonconforming individuals who may not identify as male or female (e.g., gender queer) may experience a sense of non-affirmation as others may fail to address them in gender neutral ways (Price-Feeney et al., 2020).
Internalized transphobia refers to negative beliefs about one's identity. Gender nonconformist individuals have experiences of proximal stressors (internalized transphobia). Literature points out, when stigmas are internalized, the transgender population tends to lower their self-esteem (Healy, 2011). Clinicians use the term internalized transphobia to refer to the internalization of societal denunciation (Scandurra et al., 2018). Non -disclosure is synonymous to concealment. Only that in the case of gender, one cannot conceal it. Concealment results in intense cognitive pressure,constant navigation, hypervigilence and constant stress and anxiety about being stagmatized (Scheim et al., 2014;Rossman et al.,2017).
Gender nonconformity is not concealable stigma. Gender is mainly predictable by physical indicators like size of the body,shape, hair patterns or voice. Therefore, in some ways there is no option for hiding it. Constant exposure to victimization, discrimination, or rejection becomes a part of selfconcept of gender non-conformist individuals and it adds up to the negative expectations for future (Testa et al., 2014). Gender nonconformist individuals tend to experience additional distal stressor, which the author of the scale has labeled as non-affirmation of gender identity (Hendricks &Testa,2012). Non affirmation happen when one's innate sense of gender identity is not acknowledged by others.
According to Meyer (2015), Minorities not only suffer from stressors, but they also develop resilience to face of all these stressors. Like social or emotional support by connecting with a community and developing a sense of pride in one's identity. Individuals who engage with their minority community can develop resilience factors such as social/ emotional support of individuals with shared identity, i.e., pride and community membership. Connection with other transgender persons has been associated with well-being in gender nonconforming individuals. Meyer describes it as shield against stress. It is a resilience factor and contributes to psychological well-being.
Individuals who engage with their minority community can access such resilience factors like social/ emotional support with shared identity of others, identity pride and community connections. To develop resilience, friendly contacts with other transgender persons have been linked with psychological well-being in this population (Bariola et al., 2015;Breslow et al., 2015).
Research shows that gender nonconforming individuals, who were in contact with other gender nonconforming individuals during early identity development period reported lesser anxiety, suicidality and higher levels of comfort when first recognizing their own gender nonconforming identity. Pride is also a resilience factor and proves helpful in reducing mental health problems (Meyer,2015).
Several latest research have demonstrated that transgender and gender nonconforming persons have links between particular minority stressors, resilience factors, mental/physical health disparities Testa et al., 2012). In order to develop resilience, ties with other transgender persons have been linked with psychological well-being in this population (Matsuno & Budge et al., 2017;Devor, 2004;Scandurra et al., 2018).

METHOD
The study was done in two phases. The first phase was translation of the Gender Minority Stress & Resilience Scale, and the second phase established construct validity of the scale. Step1: Obtaining Permission from the Author For this purpose, respective author was contacted via email and requested for the permission of translation, which he readily granted.
Step 2: Forward Translation of the Scales This step included the translation of the scale into target language (Urdu) from the source language (English). For this purpose, three bilingual experts, well versed with both languages were requested to translate the scales in Urdu language. Translators were given clear cut instructions to translate the scales in a way that their innate and actual meaning should be conveyed exactly in Urdu language and should be understandable in Pakistani cultural context as well. The Urdu translated versions received for the scales were re-evaluated in the committee to choose the most suitable translation of each scale, separately.
Step 3: Selection of the most suitable translation through committee approach In this step, all the received translations for scales were typed along with the English version and later presented in the committee for evaluation and selection of the most appropriate item. The committee consisted of three members, including the researcher and two bilingual experts from Nation institute of Psychology, proficient in both languages as well as one of them were having her Ph.D in the specific field of gender diversity. The committee re-evaluated all the translations of an item and selected most suitable translation on the basis of clarity, understandability and literary as well as semantic equivalence of original item. The instructions of the scales were also decided by the consent of the committee.
Step 4: Back translation of the selected items into Source Language Back translation of the selected items into source language (English) was done in this stage. Urdu versions of the scales were given to three independent bilingual experts to translate the items as accurately as possible. The committee selected most appropriate item on the basis of comprehension, clarity and semantic equivalence of original item. The instructions of the scales were also decided by the consent of the committee.
Step 5: Comparing the back translations with the Original Version All the back translations for the scales were written with the respective items to be re-evaluated in the committee approach. Same bilingual experts re-evaluate the back translations for their similarity with the original items.
No ambiguity was found in most of the items except few that were not conveying exact meaning, those were translated into Urdu and then again back translated into source language., After modifying the problematic items, Urdu translation as well as the back translation was shared with authors for finalization.
Step 6: Sharing of the back translations with authors for their approval & feedback After finalization of the back translations, authors of the respective scales were contacted again and the back translations were sent for evaluating their equivalence and for their recommendations and suggestions. Author approved most of the items, there were certain objections on one or two items from author. The concerns raised by author were reconsidered and addressed by the researcher. The amended items were again shared with the author and translations were finalized after getting approval from the author.
After sharing the back translation of GMSR Scale with author, his response was that translation looks good overall but there are certain points that need to be clarified. According to the author, on the victimization scale, item 2: the phrase "being outed" in the US means that someone reveals your identity as a transgender or gender non-conforming person to people without your permission. For example, someone might say "if you don't have sex with me, I will tell your employer you are transgender." I'm not sure your back translation reflects this meaning -the word "expelled" seems different to me. So this item was retranslated into Urdu by three independent bilingual experts and then translated back into English. Again committee reviewed the versions of English translation as well as Urdu translation and the best item conveying the meaning was chosen and again sent to the author for approval. This time author approved it.
On the victimization scale, item 6: "had sexual contact" means a person touching your body in a sexual way. This also seems different from your back translation, "Keep a sexual relationship". Nonaffirmation scale, item 5: Your back translation refers to "give me respect," but the original item is about respecting one's gender identity specifically. Author advised that perhaps researcher could use the same wording used in item 4 just before, that was back translated to be "accept my gender". So again these items were revised by using same procedure and after author's approval included into Urdu version as well.
There was confusion in Urdu translation of item 1 of the scale Internalization of Transphobia, it was revised again by giving for back translation to independent translators and correct Urdu equivalent was chosen again in committee approach. Initially, It was decided to omit two scales "Pride" and "Negative Expectations for Future" but later those were also included and it was decided to use full scales, so both scales were translated as well.

Phase II: Establishing construct validity of the Urdu version of the GMSR Scale Sample
Data was collected in two phases. In order to establish the convergent validity of the construct, other instruments were used along the translated versions of selected scales. Hijra Perception of Attitude Towards Hijra's (HPHS) Scale (Jami, 2012) on KhawajaSira (transgender), a culturally existent community as representative of gender nonconformists. Snowball sampling technique was used, as gender nonconformist individuals living in general population are not visible or easily accessible. Sample was taken from all the cities, mainly from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Sialkot and surrounding areas of these cities. Instrument Gender minority Stress & resilience Scale (GMSR) developed by Testa et al., (2014) was currently translated into Urdu language. GMSR is a 58-item measure with 9 scales namely Gender-related Discrimination, Gender-related Rejection, Gender-related Victimization, Non-affirmation of Gender identity, Internalization of Transphobia, Negative Expectations for Future, Non-disclosure and two resilience scales namely Pride and Community Connectedness. Total scores calculated for each scale are based upon summed values assigned to possible response options. First 17 items of three scales are scored 0 for Never and 1 for all other response. All other items are scored from 0-4 according to responses (strongly disagree to strongly agree). There are two reverse scored items 4,5 in Community Connectedness scale. Reliability analysis indicated all the scales have satisfactory reliability ranging from .61 to .91 (Testa et al., 2014). Procedure As snowball sampling technique was used, so participants were approached through different references and every individual was asked to recommend a person whom they knew. respondents were informed about the academic nature of the research. Confidentiality and anonymity were ensured, and informed consent was taken by participants. APA guidelines for approaching the sensitive sample were followed thoroughly (APA,2013).

RESULTS
Descriptive and Cronbach alpha was calculated for each scale and total of the scale. Item total correlation and scales correlation to establish convergent validity was also calculated. results are as follows. Mean difference of scores was also calculated between female and male gender nonconformists.  Table 1 indicate positive correlation between Minority stress factors (gender-related discrimination, rejection, victimization, non-affirmation of gender identity, internalized transphobia, and concealment) and perceived negative attitudes of people which indicates convergent validity. .85 15.6(6.5) 0-32 1-5 -.00 -.09 Note. N= No. of items; Skew=skewness; Kurt=kurtosis; GMSR-Discrim=Gender minority stress and resilience Gender-related Discrimination Scale; GMSR-Reject = Gender-related Rejection Scale; GMSR-Victim= Gender-related Victimization Scale; GMSR-NonAff= Non-affirmation of Gender identity Scale ; GMSR-InTrPh=Internalization of Transphobia Scale; GMSR-NE= Negative Expectations for Future Scale; GMSR-ND= Non-disclosure of identity Scale; GMSR-Comm=Community Connectedness Scale ; GMSR-Pride= Pride. Table 2 shows that reliability and descriptive of all scales are within satisfactory range as well as skewness and kurtosis are also within the prescribed range i.e. -2 to +2(George & Mallery,2010). Note. N= No. of items; Skew=skewness; Kurt=kurtosis; GMSR Discrim=Gender minority stress and resilience Gender-related Discrimination Scale; GMSR-Reject = Gender-related Rejection Scale; GMSR-Victim= Gender-related Victimization Scale; GMSR-NonAff= Non-affirmation of Gender identity Scale ; GMSR-InTrPh=Internalization of Transphobia Scale; GMSR-NE= Negative Expectations for Future Scale; GMSR-ND= Non-disclosure of identity Scale; GMSR-Comm=Community Connectedness Scale ; GMSR-Pride= Pride. Table 2 shows that reliability and descriptive of all scales are within satisfactory range as well as skewness and kurtosis are also within the prescribed range i.e. -2 to +2(George & Mallery,2010). Table 4 Item total correlation of Gender-related Discrimination Scale of GMSR .64** .80** Item 5 .96** .78** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01. All the scores show significant correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .71** .77** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01.
All the scores show significant correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .77** .80** Item 4 .79** .87** Item 5 .81** .79** Item 6 .67** .68** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01. All the scores show significant correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .93** .93** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01. All the scores show significant item total correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .83** .85** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01. All the scores show significant item total correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .77** .37** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01. All the scores show significant item total correlation for both male and female gender nonconformists. .50** .29** Item 5 .56** .23** Note. # shows negative slope for items of validity scale. (V) = item of validity scale; r = Item total correlations α = Item discrimination parameter; ICC = Item Characteristic Curves. ** p < .01.
The independent t-test was used to compare the sample of female and male gender nonconformists. It indicates that hypotheses are supported about the differences between males and females gender nonconformists on almost all the scales except there was no significant difference was found on GMSR-Pride Scale.

DISCUSSION
Current study was aimed to enhance understanding of gender minority stress & resilience factors experienced by transgender and gender nonconforming people living in general population by validation of GMSR scale. This instrument was based on the Meyer's minority stress model and was expanded by Testa (2014) to develop items to reveal the unique experiences of gender nonconforming people. The GMSR instrument's reliability and validity results support its indigenous use. Cronbach's alphas were adequate and demonstrate internal consistency. The seven stress scales positively correlating with each other and the two resilience factor scales not correlating with them. This provides evidence that the scales measure accurate, independent, and meaningful constructs, and that the scale items represent each of these constructs. However, further evidence for validity should be explored in subsequent studies. Upcoming research should provide additional evidence of discriminant validity. However, the initial results are encouraging, and this instrument may be considered for use with transgender and gender nonconforming population with close attention to psychometric properties of the scale in different studies.
Future validation of the measure would also add up to support the growing body of literature on Meyer's minority stress model. In particular, findings suggest that the theory behind the constructs shared by both models represent stress and resilience factors. It is expected that these findings will inspire future research and development of interventions in the domains of research and clinical settings for transgender and gender nonconforming persons.

CONCLUSION
Current study offers primary evidence of the reliability and validity of the GMSR Scale. This instrument can have several usages for both research and clinical purposes. This instrument is expected to enhance knowledge about the exclusive stress and resilience factors experienced by gender nonconformist persons, improve understanding of the causes of stress and resilience factors in this population, and help clinicians in providing culturally informed attention to gender nonconforming people.