KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Nov 2020:
Under the Supplementary Food Programme (RMT) milk will be provided every school day, instead of twice weekly as practised currently, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said.
In presenting the 2021 Budget in Parliament today, he said this is to ensure students from low-income families received essential nutritional requirements for their physical and mental growth.
He said the RMT programme would be improved with an allocation of RM420 million and a portion of the amount would be reserved for local milk producers.
The government has allocated RM300 million to continue and expand the implementation of the My30 unlimited travel pass initiative to Penang and Kuantan.
Tengku Zafrul said the initiative would enable commuters to enjoy bus and rail services operated by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd at RM30 per month.
Apart from that, he said an unlimited monthly travel pass priced at RM5 would be introduced for school students from Year One to Form Six.
“They can use this pass for the Klang Valley commuter train service, northern commuter train, intercity-train service between Kuala Lipis and Tumpat as well as the Beaufort-Tenom train line in Sabah.
“Currently, the fare is on average RM5 a day, so from next year, the fare will only be RM5 a month.”
Tengku Zafrul said the bus service transformation programme implemented in Kangar, Seremban, Ipoh and Kuala Terengganu would also be expanded in phases under the Budget.
“This programme will be expanded in phases to Johor Bahru, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuantan with an allocation of RM150 million.”
For this year’s budget, he noted the Education Ministry continued to receive the largest allocation of RM50.4 billion or 15.6% of total government expenditure – as education is an important investment in ensuring a better quality of life for future generations.
“To ensure a conducive learning environment, RM800 million has been allocated for maintenance and repair work on government and government-aided schools.” He said this is also for the construction of halls or roofing structures to cater for school assemblies.
“An additional RM725 million will be allocated to upgrade buildings and infrastructure at 50 dilapidated schools. To strengthen special education, RM45 million will be provided for the welfare of students with special needs.”
For rural Sabah and Sarawak schools, 184 projects would be implemented for construction and installation of new tube wells at a cost of RM120 million.
“The government will also allocate RM170 million for early childhood education programmes by the Community Development Department or KEMAS. This allocation among others is to fund Supplementary Food Assistance, Per Capita Assistance as well as maintenance and repair works for both TABIKA and TASKA.
“To ease the burden of the cost of living for the urban B40 group especially working parents, the government will allocate RM20 million to establish Community Centres as transit care centres for children after school.”
Tengku Zafrul said RM14.4 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Higher Education including RM50 million for repairs of obsolete infrastructure and equipment in public universities.
Another RM50 million has been allocated to upgrade the Malaysian Research and Education Network (MYREN) access line from 500Mbps to 10Gbps to ensure internet connectivity in institutes of higher learning (IPT).
The government would be working with Bank Simpanan Nasional in financing the laptop loan scheme involving RM100 million, to ensure undergraduates who received loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) are able to study online, he added.
He said the tax relief of up to RM8,000 for the National Education Savings Scheme net savings would be extended until year 2022 to continue to encourage parents to finance cost of their children’s higher education.
“A total of RM6 billion has been allocated to enhance Technical and Vocational Training Education (TVET) as well as for various initiatives including providing loans to 24,000 TVET programme participants in public and private skills institutes and increasing the monthly allowance to RM1,000 for the national dual training system participants.”
He added that the sales tax exemption for locally assembled buses would be extended for a period of two years effective from Jan 1 next year.
– Bernama