KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The Ministry of Education (MoE) said today it is thankful for being allocated RM64.1 billion of Budget 2020, the biggest allocation for any ministry.

It stands to get RM64.1 billion in 2020, an increase from 2019’s RM60.2 billion, and will benefit national schools such as Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC), Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT), boarding schools, MARA Junior Science Colleges, tahfiz schools and private Chinese secondary schools, among others.

“The MoE is extremely happy and indebted to the federal government for giving us the most allocation of money from the national Budget.

“From the amount given, RM735 million will be used to upgrade and upkeep schools nationwide while poor schools, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, have been allocated RM783 million for their upkeep,” the ministry said in a statement.

Advertisement

The government also plans to build several schools in Langkawi, Hulu Langat, Kulai, Putrajaya, Pasir Gudang, Tumpat, Marang and Johor Baru.

The MoE also thanked the federal government for prioritising sekolah kebangsaan by allocating RM300 million for upgrading purposes in 2020.

It also got a RM200 million increase from 2019 for Technical, Vocational, Educational Training (TVET) centres, making it a grand total of RM5.9 billion.

Advertisement

“What’s more pleasing is that the government has agreed that vocational college graduates get to further their studies at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia.

“Special needs students also were included in the Budget, with a RM23 million allocation to ensure their schools are ‘disabled friendly’,” the statement added.