Students can collect RM100 cash aid from Jan 15

NILAI: Students can collect their RM100 cash aid from their respective schools starting from Jan 15.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Puad Zarkashi said those studying in private, vernacular, missionary and Islamic religious schools would also benefit from the one-off aid.

Some five million students from Year One to Form Five are entitled to the aid which is estimated to cost the Government RM500mil.

Puad said schools had been instructed to give out the cash aid without making any deductions.

“We have told the schools to give out the money in full to the parents and not to make any deductions whether for school or Parent-Teachers Asso­ciation fees,” he told reporters during a visit to the Tunku Kurshiah College in Bandar Enstek near here.

However, Puad said students from the interior areas might get the cash at a later date as the funds would have to be personally sent by officers from the district education office.

“We have no other choice. We can’t send the money directly to these schools as they do not have a bank account,” he said.

On a separate matter, Puad said the ministry used a standard marking scheme for all public examinations for schools in the country.

He said there was no truth in talk that certain schools had a lenient marking system while others were subjected to higher standards.

“The Examination Syndicate is very transparent on this. This should not be disputed,” he said.

He was asked to comment on the performances of certain schools which had done well in the 2011 PMR examination but fared poorly last year and vice versa.

Puad, who had also visited SK Batang Benar and SK Sendayan near here earlier in the morning, said the Government would build 15 primary and secondary schools this year.

“We will also supply six cabins which would be turned into temporary classrooms for students at SK Batang Benar which had seen a rapid increase in student population.

“For the longer term, we will propose the construction of a new school in Pajam so that some of the students can be sent there,” he said