FORMER education minister Maszlee Malik has put forth several proposals for the Education Ministry that he hoped will be included in Budget 2021.

In a statement, Maszlee suggested that teachers be given a special allowance for a period of six months.

He said this would enable teachers to upgrade their digital equipment and improve their online interaction when conducting classes from home.

“It will assist teachers in formulating a more innovative curriculum during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially when mainstream pedagogy is no longer effective,” he said.

In light of UNICEF’s latest findings which revealed that one in five students have lost interest in studying after the movement-control order (MCO) was implemented, Maszlee said the government, in this regard, should also consider special incentives for poor families who are still sending their children to school.

“This special incentive will ensure the affected families are able to send the children back to school,” he said.

He said the move will save nearly 1.2 million children nationwide.

Other than that, the Simpang Renggam MP said assistance in the form of nutritious food to poor families who have schooling children should also be considered.

He said when the MCO came into effect, school closure meant underprivileged children were not able to benefit from the nationwide school feeding programme, Rancangan Makanan Tambahan (RMT).

The MCO had deprived many pupils of their daily RMT meals.

In 2018, about 500,000 students were registered for RMT, or roughly 18% of all primary school students.

The RMT programme provides additional food to primary school students, especially from rural and low-income groups to improve health, physical and nutritional practices.

Maszlee said if school closures continued, it would affect the growth of children who have been dependent on the food programme.

“More than 2.6 million students nationwide are fully dependent on this nutritious food programme,” he said.

Maszlee also said the government should provide a special grant for canteen operators and its workers.

He said this grant would help them to continue operations once schools are allowed to resume.

“This special grant will help affected canteen operations to resume operations when schools reopen later.

“Meanwhile, special assistance for canteen workers will help canteen workers sustain themselves for now, considering most of them are unable to apply for existing employee wage schemes.”

He said the grant and special assistance will help more than 70,000 canteen employees.

Lastly, Maszlee suggested a special grant for lecturers working in public institutions of higher education who are struggling to create quality teaching materials under the new normal.

He said the grant would help over 35,000 lecturers in developing quality teaching materials, especially during MCO. 

“This grant would enable lecturers to develop quality teaching materials through private and leading universities outside,” Maszlee said. – November 3, 2020.