KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — The Ministry of Education (MoE) will disburse its early schooling aid (BPS) to five million students in two phases next year.

Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the first phase will be in January and the second will happen in March when schooling begins for those in Standard 1, Utusan Malaysia reported today.

“This early school aid will be done in two phases. Standard 1 pupils will receive their aid in March when the session starts for them while in January it will be for all other pupils.

“March is specifically for Standard 1 pupils because while many are waiting for this aid the schooling session for them only begins in March,” she was quoted as saying.

The MoE was given the lion’s share of RM55.6 billion when the previous administration tabled the Supply Bill 2023 back in October, up RM3 billion from the RM52.6 billion budgeted for this year.

On top of this, the newspaper reported that the government has also raised the budget for cooked food under the Supplementary Food Plan, from RM2.50 to RM3.50 for peninsular Malaysia, and RM3 to RM4 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan effective this month.

Previously, the food aid was set at RM100 per student, irrespective of the parents’ income.

First time minister Fadhlina told Utusan Malaysia that one of her priorities after taking office is to ensure the upkeep of all the schools used as temporary flood relief centres or had been affected by the recent floods.

She also said her ministry will provide psycho-social services for those affected by the December 16 landslide in Batang Kali, Selangor that claimed the lives of six teachers from SJK(C) Mun Choong and their children.

“There will be psychosocial services ready at the school on opening day as we feel this is critical because the students will be aware of the six missing teachers apart from some of their classmates,” she told the newspaper.

Utusan Malaysia reported that the ministry has 318 counsellors as part of its Critical Incident Stress Management Team to provide counselling to affected victims.

Thirty-one people were killed in the 2.30am landslide while 61 survived after tonnes of earth came crashing down on a campsite near the Father’s Organic Farm.

Eighteen of those killed were adults and 13 were children. - malaymail