Saifuddin: Food Bank Siswa to include private varsities

KUALA NERUS: The Food Bank Siswa programme will be extended to more students from B40 families at both public and private institutions of higher learning.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the ministry was presently still focusing on public universities with the aim of implementing the programme at 20 public universities by December.

“It will be extended to private universities and community colleges, religious schools and teacher training institutes.

“This programme will be a good volunteerism movement, benefiting recipients while educating the public about avoiding wastage,” said Saifuddin.

He was speaking to reporters after officiating a Student Consumer Movement and Food Bank Siswa programme at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Unisza) yesterday.

Food Bank Siswa followed the success of Food Bank Malaysia, which was launched in August last year and benefited 37,000 individuals from the B40 group nationwide.

The implementation of Food Bank Siswa followed media exposure that students in public universities were forced to adopt a frugal lifestyle due to financial constraints.

Commenting further, Saifuddin said the ministry was satisfied with the support by different parties in the programme and hoped that more companies would come forward in the future.

So far, Food Bank Siswa has been launched at several public universities, namely Universiti Teknologi Mara (Permatang Pauh, Penang), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s medical faculty, Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai, and Unisza yesterday. — Bernama