KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry (MoE) has vowed to put each sen from the 2021 Budget for the maintenance and repairs of 10,223 schools nationwide, as well as towards the wellbeing of Malaysia's school-going children.
In a special briefing on the allocation given to the ministry under 2021 Budget, Senior Education Minister Dr Radzi Jidin said RM750 million of those funds are going into the maintenance of schools, while RM50 million will be for non-school upgrading essentials.
Of the sum, he said RM620 million is allocated to schools, RM50 million for improving and upgrading facilities, another RM50 million for slope works and the rest will be set aside as a critical fund.
He explained that the allocation involved the distributions to 8,293 Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) with an allocation of RM515 million, and 1,930 government assisted schools (SBK), which were given RM105 million.
"On an average, the money allocated will be more or less RM60,648 for each school. But this does not mean that each school will be handed the money. Instead, schools must officially take note of the repairs needed at their respective schools and officially request for it from the ministry," he said.
He said the ceiling allocation for government-assisted schools is calculated based on 90 per cent of this average, which is multiplied with the number of SBKs, which is 1,930.
He also explained on allocations given to vernacular schools.
"There are questions put to me, on why the allocation to one type of school is less than the allocation to another type of school in the same category of schools.
"For instance, why are SJKC schools alloted with RM74.07 million, but SJKT schools are alloted RM29.98 million in 2021, when previously both categories of schools received equal allocation, RM50 million.
"This is because after a lot of thought and discussions between the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry, we decided to use a new and simple model to divide the allocation in the most fair and unbiased way, based on the number of schools," he said.
Radzi added that the critical fund set aside is mainly to aid schools with ceiling allocation below RM30 million.
"If they have reached the ceiling allocation and have depleted the ceiling funds, we can tap into the critical allocation to help them.
"This entitlement, however applies to only five types of schools that the ceiling allocation given is below RM30 million, like the SJKT, mission schools and government assisted religious schools".
He also clarified that these allocations given to schools are not across the board, but is on a needs basis. Schools must apply for the funds with the ministry by providing adequate reasons and proof of the needed repairs.
"We will look into each complaint and do what is needed," he said.