PETALING JAYA: Subsidies worth RM10.8mil have been channelled to financially aid 167 preschools and 4,441 B40 children nationwide, says Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan.
The Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) chairman said the funds would be used to pay for preschool fees and breakfast meals for the children.
"Each student will receive a total of RM200 in subsidy as RM150 will be used to subsidise their monthly preschool fees and another RM50 for their breakfast meals.
"When calculated in the span of a year, a total of RM2,400 will be used to subsidise each child and a total of 4,441 children and 167 preschools nationwide will receive these subsidies.
"This brings the total subsidy to RM10.8mil," he said in a statement on Friday (Oct 20).
Ramanan, who is also Sungai Buloh MP, said Mitra had carried out proper screenings to ensure all B40 children in their list of recipients would receive the subsidy.
"Mitra will ensure funds are channelled neatly and organised and will monitor its progress from time to time.
"The list of recipients of the subsidy will be shown on Mitra's website," he said.
Ramanan added it was important to help young children in need as they are the future of the country.
"Empowering children begins through education and Mitra places emphasis on the education sector starting from the preschool level," he said.
"We have also distributed laptops to school children all across the country and given subsidies for B40 university students to pay for their education," he added.
Last month, Ramanan said a total of RM100mil was allocated to Mitra under Budget 2023.
He said the funds have been fully disbursed and have benefited more than 100,000 individuals.
