KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry receives the largest allocation of RM52.6 billion for the 2022 Budget.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz in tabling the 2022 Budget said the allocation was equivalent to 16 per cent of the total government expenditure.
"This budget will continue to prioritise education as the most important segment in the government expenditure.
"The Higher Education Ministry will be allocated a total of RM14.5 billion," he told Dewan Rakyat here, today.
Tengku Zafrul said the government agreed to provide early education assistance of RM150, an increase from RM100 in the previous year.
"A total of RM450 million will be allocated to three million eligible students. There is nothing more exciting for children when they can go back to school (in a physical setting) with friends.
"At the beginning of each year, of course, parents are the busiest to prepare their children's school equipment," he said.
Tengku Zafrul said RM1 billion would be set aside for maintenance and repair works for schools to ensure a conducive learning environment for the children when schools reopen.
"This allocation also include RM140 million allocation for Islamic Development Department Malaysia (Jakim) for school maintenance works for tahfiz schools; sekolah agama rakyat and registered sekolah pondok, compared to last year's allocation of RM100 million.
"The maintenance allocation to more than 10,000 schools under the Education Ministry will be distributed according to the type of school, based on a uniform rate.
"For next year a total of RM120 million will be provided to 1,800 Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil," he said.
Next year, Tengku Zafrul said the government would continue to upgrade dilapidated schools with an allocation of RM746 million.
"The bulk of this allocation will be for the upgrade of dilapidated schools with 112 projects in Sabah and 165 projects in Sarawak," he said.
Tengku Zafrul said to strengthen the special education agenda, RM50 million had been allocated for the purchase of teaching equipment and to improve school facilities for those with special needs.
"Apart from that, a total of eight new special education premises were also built, including Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen in Perlis and SMK Agama Alor Gajah in Melaka.
In the 2021 Budget, Tengku Zafrul said the Education Ministry received the largest allocation of RM50.4 billion or equivalent to 15.6 per cent of the total government expenditure.