RM800 MLN ALLOCATED FOR EARLY SCHOOLING AID, SAYS PM

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The government has allocated RM800 million to provide a one-off Early Schooling Aid (BAP) of RM150 to all students from Year One to Form Six this year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also Finance Minister, said parents are required to be present at schools to receive the assistance.

“Parents must go to the school because they need to ensure the money is spent on their children and also hear directly from teachers about their children’s issues.

“It cannot be represented by the children because we have made it a condition that parents must attend, as this involves a large allocation of RM800 million,” he said when delivering his New Year address at the Prime Minister’s Department monthly assembly here today.

The Education Ministry (MoE) had announced that the BAP distribution will begin at schools as early as Jan 11.

Meanwhile, Anwar said the government has agreed to allocate an immediate RM200 million to repair dilapidated Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) and tahfiz institutions this year.

He said many SARs are in poor condition compared with other schools nationwide.

“Although they are not part of the national education system, more than 300,000 students are enrolled in SAR. In the past, assistance was completely discontinued by a former prime minister, and this effectively punished our children,” he said.

Anwar said the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) has been instructed to hold discussions to improve facilities, enhance curriculum quality and raise teaching standards at SAR and tahfiz institutions.

In addition, he said the government has agreed to increase allocations for Chinese national-type schools (SJKC) to RM80 million, up from RM50 million last year, and to allocate RM50 million for Tamil national-type schools (SJKT).

“Our children also attend SJKC, and today there are Bumiputera and Indian students in these schools as well. Previously, we provided RM50 million, and this year we have increased it to RM80 million for SJKC.

“Although the number of SJKTs is smaller, some of these Tamil schools are also in dilapidated condition, which is why we have allocated RM50 million,” he said.

-- BERNAMA