KUCHING: A Chinese education leader is disappointed with the RM50 million pledged for aided Chinese primary schools in Budget 2014.
Management Board of Kuching Chung Hua Primary Schools No.1 to 6, chairman Dr Chou Chii Ming said the amount was not enough to meet the rising needs of more than 1,200 aided Chinese primary schools in the country.
In the last budget, national Chinese type schools were granted RM100 million for development purposes.
“It is only RM50 million for 1,271 aided Chinese primary schools in the country. Last budget, it was RM100 million, and, if say, divided among the schools, each got more or less RM80,000, which is already not enough.
“Now, the special allocation is only half of that of the last. It isn’t enough for so many schools, and the majority are in need of maintenance and upgrading,” he said in a telephone interview shortly after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tabled the Budget in Parliament.
Chou lamented many existing national Chinese type schools were very old, and were in need of more funds.
“We are hoping to get more funds to develop Chinese primary schools.”
He also urged the state education department to inform the various Chinese school boards as to when they are supposed to submit their request for funds.
This was because the boards needed time to get ready all the supporting documents, he said.
“We shall be told the deadline to submit our formal requests. The documents to be prepared are meant to facilitate evaluation and inspection to be carried out by the ministry for approval of the funds requested.”
On the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) effective April 1, 2015, Chou said the tax was expected to be fixed at four per cent, and cautioned that the announced six per cent might fuel inflation.
He urged the government to come up with some measures to cushion the blow arising from the implementation of the GST.