SEBERANG PERAI, Jan 13 — Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has warned schools not to deduct any other fees from the RM150 early schooling aid (BAP) meant for students.
She said the aid must be given to all parents in full so it can be used to pay for schooling preparation for their children.
“Schools must not deduct any fees from this, if the parents owe any fees such as for Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA), ask the parents to pay later, but this schooling aid should be paid in full to each student,” she said in her speech during a mock cheque presentation of the early schooling aid to the state education department at SMK Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah.
She said the RM150 aid is meant for school preparation and must be given in full to each student.
“If any parent did not receive this RM150, if they receive less, even ten sen or less RM1, they must inform us because it must not be less,” she said.
She added that the government allocated RM800 million for BAP to benefit around 5.2 million students from Standard One to Form Six nationwide.
She said they hoped to complete the distribution of the aid within this week as there are more than 10,000 schools involved in handing out the aid to parents.
“So far, the disbursement process has been running very smoothly,” she said.
She said parents can collect the aid at schools, and most parents have taken leave this week to send their children to school, she added.
According to her, the parents’ presence at schools not only facilitates the distribution of the RM150 assistance, but also creates opportunities for direct discussions between parents and teachers on various educational issues.
Earlier, Fadhlina handed over BAP amounting to more than RM34 million to benefit more than 227,000 primary and secondary schools in Penang.
