KUALA LUMPUR: The education sector received the highest allocation in the 2023 Budget, which is wonderful news for teachers and parents, an expert said.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Centre of Community Education and Wellbeing educationist Dr Anuar Ahmad said this was because the government had focused its efforts on improving learning facilities.
"As expected, the 2023 Budget allocation for the education sector has emphasised two aspects, — 'restoring' and 'developing' national education.
"'Restoring' is in the context of providing higher quality and new infrastructure for the convenience and comfort of students and teachers in schools.
"This is one of the main points that educators have often highlighted for a long time.
"It is good news when the government agrees to build seven new schools in the budget to reduce the overcrowding of students in existing schools," he told the New Straits Times.
Anuar said the budget had also focused on providing disabled-friendly facilities to students with disabilities to ensure they could learn and perform their activities comfortably.
Earlier in the 2023 Budget tabling, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced a RM2.3 billion allocation to improve the infrastructure and learning facilities in schools nationwide.
Of that amount, RM920 million is set to be used for the upgrade of buildings and infrastructure in 380 dilapidated schools, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
For the aspect of "developing" education, Anuar said the provision of laptops would help teachers emphasise teaching and learning elements based on the digitisation of education.
"Furthermore, the government has agreed to build school halls for the comfort of students for various learning and co-curricular activities," he said.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek earlier said the ministry sought to improve Malaysia's education standards and preserve the welfare of teachers and students via the budget.
She said the ministry had received the highest allocation of RM55.2 billion in the new budget.
"The agendas for education, unity, and respect can be translated through programmes in the budget such as gotong-royong with an allocation of RM20 million."