Be fair, channel all educational funding through ministry, says Tuan Ibrahim

 

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man is calling for all funds to be distributed through the education ministry, saying it will allow dilapidated national schools everywhere to receive the necessary attention. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man wants all educational funding, regardless of source, to be distributed through the ministry to ensure fairness.

Pointing to the availability of better facilities in Chinese schools, Tuan Ibrahim claimed this was due to the government allocating more funds to national-type schools rather than national schools.

“Look at the facilities Chinese national-type schools have compared with many dilapidated schools in rural areas.

Allocations should be given per capita. It is unfair for a school with a few students to receive a large allocation and vice versa,

 he told FMT.

Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Tuan Ibrahim said if all funds were distributed through the ministry, dilapidated national schools, particularly those in Sabah and Sarawak, would receive the necessary attention.

Under Budget 2022, RM1 billion was allocated for the maintenance and repair of schools, with RM140 million from that sum given to the Islamic development department.

RM746 million was set aside to upgrade dilapidated schools throughout the nation, including in Sabah and Sarawak while RM120 million was allocated to Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools.

Tuan Ibrahim was responding to a recent statement by former DAP MP Kua Kia Soong, who said that while he has never approved of fundraising activities involving breweries in schools, Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools have been forced to do so due to 

unequal financial allocations to the different language streams

.

“Do the ‘national’ schools need to fundraise like the Chinese and Tamil schools need to? You know they do not need to do so.

Kua Kia Soong.

PAS should therefore make it part of their manifesto to ensure Chinese and Tamil schools are given fair and proportionate financial allocation by the state and never have to rely on breweries for fundraising,

 Kua said.

Tuan Ibrahim and Kua’s comments came after PAS recently criticised deputy housing and local government minister Aiman Athirah Sabu for accepting a mock cheque for RM3 million bearing a Tiger Beer logo at a fundraiser for SJK(C) Tche Min in Sungai Pelek, Selangor.

On Monday, the education ministry said it was investigating the incident and reminded schools to adhere to the 2018 guidelines prohibiting the acceptance of donations from activities such as gambling, and the sale of tobacco, drugs and alcohol.

Tuan Ibrahim also took a swipe at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for comments previously made about the sources of PAS’s funds.

“The prime minister accused us of receiving funds from gambling companies but what is happening now is a violation of existing regulations.

What message does it send if the deputy minister and ministers from Pakatan Harapan do not demonstrate high moral values?

 he asked.

In 2022, Malaysiakini reported that Anwar had implied that Perikatan Nasional’s election campaign funds partly came from gaming companies, especially those participating in special draws for 4D numbers.

However, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said these claims could not be verified. - FMT