NIBONG TEBAL – The Education Ministry will improve the payment method for its early school aid by crediting money directly into students’ or their parent’s bank accounts to ensure the funds are channeled safely and without delay.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said she took note of all suggestions from various parties regarding the programme’s payment method.
“...but the early school aid payment process has its own standard operating procedures, which will be finalised by the finance division.
“For now, we will maintain the existing method, but we will improve it from time to time,” she told reporters after delivering Chinese New Year donations to 103 senior citizens in Kg Jawi, here, last night.
The Nibong Tebal MP said this when asked to comment on former Education Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin’s proposal for the early school aid payments to be credited directly into students’ bank accounts for safety and timely delivery.
Fadhlina said that the ministry would for now continue handing out the money face-to-face, taking into consideration that there are parents who do not have bank accounts.
The issue arose following an incident involving a school headmaster who lost RM109,000 allocated for a school in Beranang, Selangor when it was stolen from his car last Monday.
The headmaster had earlier withdrawn the money from a bank and placed it in a bag in the front passenger seat of his car while he went to a nearby shop to buy a drink in Semenyih.
According to Kajang district police chief Mohd Zaid Hassan, the 50-year-old headmaster said that it was normal for him to make such a transaction without a police escort. – Bernama, January 18, 2023
