EDUCATION Minister Mahdzir Khalid has downplayed a Unicef report on the deprivation and malnutrition among children living in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur.
He told the Dewan Rakyat during question time today that government schemes, such as the supplementary food programme (RMT), covered all schools in rural and urban areas.
“I don’t know how the Unicef report was published and how it could compare (us) with Ghana.
The Unicef report, Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, published on February 26, shows that children living in low-cost flats are deprived in terms of nutrition, education, safety and other living conditions.
The study is a measure of government programmes for the urban poor.
It found that 34% of children under five in Kelantan face stunted growth, followed by Terengganu and Pahang (26%) and Putrajaya, Perak, Sabah & Labuan (24%).
Stunted growth in children in Sarawak was 23%, followed by Perlis (21%), Penang (20%), Negri Sembilan (19%), Kedah (18%), Malacca (14%), Johor (12%) and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (11%).
The report, which compared countries with similar GDP per capita as Malaysia, said in terms of stunting, Malaysian children were worse than Ghana, despite its GDP per capita being six times higher, at 21%.
Izzah had asked if the ministry would address the problems highlighted in the report.
Mahdzir earlier said the government had set aside some RM250 million for this year’s RMT programme, covering 190 school days.
He said 458,483 of the more than two million primary schoolchildren were on the programme
“The programme covers 40,948 SRJK(C) and 20,620 SRJK(T) primary school pupils,” he said, adding that the food programme had benefited 2.6 million pupils since 2014.
The Unicef study found that 97% of low-cost flat households with a median income of RM2,500 a month were unable to have healthy meals because of high food prices.
More than half, or 52% of households said they had not enough money to buy food in recent months, 15% said this was a frequent experience, and 12% said their children ate fewer than three meals a day.
Malnutrition among children living in low-cost flats was found to be higher than the national average of 22%.
The study, conducted from August 28 to September 30 last year, surveyed 996 households and 2,142 children in 17 low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. – March 13, 2018.
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