36,000 eligible for SSPN1M incentive within two weeks

KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN1M) received encouraging response with 36,000 accounts eligible for the free matching grant incentive of RM500 opened within two weeks since last Jan 8.

National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chief executive Wan Ahmad Wan Yusoff said the corporation was targeting 50,000 contributors to be eligible for the incentive in the first month of this year and 100,000 contributors and above for the subsequent months.

He said parents or guardians with net savings of RM500 in their SSPN1M accounts until Dec 31 this year would be eligible for the free matching grant incentive.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, when tabling the 2018 Budget, announced a RM250 million allocation for 500,000 contributors aged between seven and 12 years in the National Education Savings Scheme, now known as SSPN1M.

“The Malaysian people should not let go of the opportunity provided because the incentive is only allocated for the first 500,000 account holders only,” he told reporters after the presentation of SSPN1M deposit organised by a foundation known as Yayasan Pendidikan Kawasan Bandar Tun Razak here yesterday.

At the event, chairman of the foundation, Datuk Chew Yin Keen, who is Bandar Tun Razak Barisan Nasional (BN) division head, contributed a total of RM50,000 in the form of RM50 deposit for SSPN1M account to 1,000 students aged between seven and 12, who are mostly occupants of the People’s Housing projects (PPR) in the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary constituency.

In his speech, Chew said the foundation would continue with the contributions every year if the people were to continue to give their mandate to BN. Bernama