Teo assures schools will receive allocations
Vernacular and mission schools to get funds before January, says deputy minister
PUTRAJAYA: Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools along with mission schools will receive promised allocations by the end of the year, said Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching.
She said the change of government after the 14th General Election, incomplete applications and change in the application process were among reasons for the delay.
She said a review was conducted on all allocations over RM10mil.
“(However), in August, we received the Finance Ministry’s confirmation to continue disbursing the allocations,” she told reporters after launching the Nestle for Healthier Kids (N4HK) initiative in SK Putrajaya Presint 16 (2) yesterday.
On Monday, MCA vice-president Datuk Tan Teik Cheng urged Teo to explain the progress in disbursing this year’s special allocation for Chinese schools.
Teo yesterday said the Education Ministry had also taken some time to explain the new eVENDOR online application to schools.
Teo also added that applications from several hundred schools were still incomplete.
Once these are resolved, there should not be any delay next year, she said.
On Nov 3, Teo said that instead of handing out cheques for allocations, all schools are required to submit eVENDOR codes to the ministry.
She said Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools as well as mission schools would receive an allocation of RM50mil, while Chinese conforming secondary schools (SMJK) would receive an allocation of RM15mil.
The N4HK programme is a collaboration between Nestle Malaysia, the Education Ministry and also the Nutrition Society of Malaysia.
Entering its eight year, the initiative is targeted at pupils aged seven to 12, to improve their nutrition knowledge and to promote active lifestyles.
Nestle Malaysia Bhd group corporate affairs executive director Nirmalah Thurai said pupils were educated through six modules for two hours about living a healthy lifestyle, the Food Pyramid and eating regular meals.
“These are important things we need to teach our children. Our focus is on children from the B40 community and schools located in rural, suburban and urban poor areas, where children do not have access to such information,” she said.