KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The government has increased allocations for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to RM64.1 billion in Budget 2020, compared to RM60.2 billion in Budget 2019.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng made the announcement when tabling the Budget 2020 here today.

He said the government has allocated RM735 million to build new schools and upgrade schools to accommodate the rise in the nation’s population.

Lim said allocations will benefit national schools such as Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC),  Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT), boarding schools, MARA Junior Science College, tahfiz schools and private Chinese secondary schools, among others.

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“An allocation of RM783 million has also been set aside to upgrade poorer schools in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The government aims to build more schools next year in Langkawi (Kedah), Kulai (Johor), Hulu Langat (Selangor), Putrajaya (Wilayah Persekutuan), Pasir Gudang (Johor), Tumpat (Kelantan), Marang (Terengganu) and Johor Bahru (Johor),” he said.

Lim added that RM23 million has been allocated to make schools more disabled-friendly.

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As for the Technical Education and Vocational Training Programme (TVET), Lim said the government has allocated RM5.9 billion to strengthen synergy between public and private sectors through increased funding for the State Skills Development Centre (SSDC), to create job matching for vocational and to prepare vocational students for further studies.

“In addition, the Employees Provident Fund will receive an allocation of RM20 million, matched by a RM20 million allocation from the Human Resources Dividend Fund to encourage working adults to take professional certification exams in Industry 4.0 related courses.

“The government will continue to emphasise learning opportunities under the MARA and the Bumiputera Education Leaders or Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan (Leadership Foundation), with this it will allocate RM1.3 billion for educational institutions under MARA, and RM2 billion to finance loans for 50,000 students.

“In addition, RM192 million will be allocated to professional certification programs under the Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan,” he said.