KUCHING: Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid is handing over the long-awaited RM9.04 million annual allocation to Sarawak’s Chinese primary schools tomorrow.
Mahdzir will present it in two different occasions – at a function to be held at SJK Chung Hua No. 2, Bintulu in the morning and another at SJK Chung Hua No. 3, Kuching in the afternoon.
A total of 180 Chinese primary schools across Sarawak will be benefiting from the allocation.
The Education Ministry had kicked off the cheque distributing process across the country on Feb 26, starting with Johor.
As many as 122 government- aided Chinese primary schools in the state will share the RM7.17 million allocated.
“The allocation is for the upgrading and repair of the 180 schools in Sarawak which have applied for it through us,” president of Sarawak United Associations of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Boards of Management Datuk Pau Chiong Ung told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said it was also the annual grant that the federal government had been allocating since 2012.
In 2012, RM10 million was allocated while in 2013 the amount was increased to RM15.52 million and in 2014 it was reduced to RM10.29 million. In 2015 the allocation was RM8.5 million.
Pau said as Sarawak has the highest number of aided Chinese primary schools in Malaysia, the state has been given the highest allocation among other states.
On whether he was happy with the amount allocated, Pau said the Chinese primary schools were in great need of the money and he did not expect the need to be met overnight or in one allocation.
He said presently Sarawak United Associations of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Boards of Management was in the process of collecting financial aid requests from aided Chinese primary schools across the state for this year.
“For schools which need upgrading and renovation, do submit your request to us and we will collect all submissions and present the requests to the federal government.
“We hope this year, the allocation will not be delayed again like last year,” said Pau.
The RM9.04 million allocation is part of the RM50 million promised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to government-aided Chinese primary schools when announcing Budget 2016 in Parliament in 2015.
When the allocation did not come in 2016, there were calls from ministers and Chinese community leaders to the government to expedite the process because many government aided Chinese primary schools were in need of the allocation urgently as they were already undergoing repair and renovation works.