PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry bears a huge responsibility to ensure that every expenditure from the allocation announced in Budget 2023 has an optimal impact on national education development through seven main thrusts outlined to produce happy students and teachers, high performing schools and a prosperous nation.
The Ministry said the highest allocation received, at RM55.2bil, compared with RM52.6bil last year, will drive the ministry's continued commitment to further improve the quality of existing infrastructure in schools.
It said that one of the main focuses of the ministry in Budget 2023 is to improve the national education standard and preserve the welfare and well-being of teachers and students.
Budget 2023 also saw the education sector continue to be prioritised by the government, and reflected the Malaysia Madani principle, which prioritises the welfare and well-being of Malaysians, it said in a statement on Sunday (Feb 26).
Among the allocations announced in Budget 2023 is RM2.3bil to build the best infrastructure and learning facilities in all schools, including RM920mil to upgrade buildings and infrastructure in 380 poor schools, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, through a special procurement method for urgency; RM900mil for work maintaining the facilities of all types of schools, including national primary schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan or SK), Chinese national-type primary schools (SJKC) and Tamil national-type primary schools (SJKT).
A total of RM560mil was also allocated for the construction of seven new schools, including SK Paya Dusun in Terengganu; Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Denai Alam in Selangor, SMK Nabalu in Sabah and SMK Dudong in Sarawak.
The allocation is also to equip schools which have students with special needs with disabled-friendly facilities, in addition to RM15mil to support the efforts of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to hold remedial classes for children who are still dropping out of school.
MOE also received an allocation of RM777mil, compared with last year's RM625mil, to provide nutritious food under the Supplementary Meal Plan (RMT), which benefits 700,000 students.
In addition, RM108mil is allocated for the Preschool Food programme under the Ministry, which will benefit more than 240,000 children.
It also said that monitoring of food providers will be carried out to ensure that food is of good quality and nutritious, in addition to being committed to addressing poverty and malnutrition among students through these programmes.
In line with modernisation, the government will also supply Education Ministry schools and educational institutions with 50,000 laptops this year, which is also in line with the ministry's seventh thrust in improving schools' digital capabilities.
Meanwhile, to foster unity, as well as to raise the role of parents, communities and NGOs in the development of children at school, the ministry said that RM20mil has been allocated for the implementation of the gotong-royong programme in all schools nationwide.
The government also allocated a total of RM20mil, to promote translation and publishing activities, to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and the Malaysian Institute of Translation and Books (ITBM). – Bernama
