2.1 million pupils benefited over 3 years
A TOTAL of 2.1 million primary school pupils nationwide have benefited from the 1Malaysia Supplementary Food Programme (RMT1M) from 2014 until last year, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said 559,383 pupils participated in RMT1M in 2014, 536,103 (2015), 538,620 (2016); and 515,028 last year.
“This year, 458,483 pupils will participate in RMT1M, including 40,948 from Chinese schools (SJKC) and 26,620 from Tamil schools (SJKT),” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time.
Mahdzir was replying to Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai), who wanted to know the number of pupils in RMT1M according to state and ethnicity from 2013 to January, as well as the success of the programme.
He said this year, the government had allocated RM250 million for the programme, with the rate of RM2.50 per day/per pupil in the peninsula, and RM3 per day/per pupil in Sabah and Sarawak.
Mahdzir said RMT1M aid was given to pupils of all races at government and government-aided primary schools.
“The criteria for qualifying for the programme include being a Malaysian citizen, fitting a certain household income bracket, those with special needs and Orang Asli pupils.”
He said the Health Ministry, through its Food Department, had helped to ensure that a healthy menu was offered.
“Based on a study in 2016, we found that RMT1M has helped to improve pupils’ health and school attendance, and they are also more active in class.”
Meanwhile, to a supplementary question from Nurul Izzah, Mahdzir said they did not receive reports of pupils going without food in schools.
Nurul Izzah had quoted a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) study, which claimed that many children living in People’s Housing Projects (PPR) had been suffering from stunted growth and malnutrition.
The Unicef report had claimed that the rate of stunted growth among Malaysian children in PPR areas was 22 per cent more than the children in Ghana.
“I am not sure how the report was produced, and how we can be compared with Ghana. We can see whether in the cities or rural areas, none of our pupils go to school without food.”