Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

THE Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) Government will launch the Sabah Education Fund (TPNS) next month.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the setting up of TPNS is to provide more Sabahan children  opportunities to further their studies at institutions of higher learning either locally or abroad.

“The establishment of TPNS is one of the initiatives in the Sabah Foundation Group Strategic Transformation Plan 2015-2023.

“It is also in line with one of the thrusts of the Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) which is to improve human capital development and the wellbeing of the people,” said Hajiji, who is also State Finance Minister, when officiating the State-level Teachers’ Day celebration at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), Kota Kinabalu.

The State Legislative Assembly (DUN) had, on September 9, 2021, unanimously passed the Government Trust Funds Enactment (Amendment) 2021, which allocates funds for education in Sabah. The enactment came into force on January 1, this year.

Hajiji said the GRS-BN Government has implemented several initiatives after taking over the reins of government to support the development of education in the State.

“These include contributing 10,000 laptops to Forms Five and Six students. In the Sabah 2022 Budget, the Government also allocated school social assistance such as uniforms, shoes and stationery involving 289,204 students with an allocation of RM13.9 million.

“The State Government is also committed in continuing the two forms of special education assistance introduced in 2021, namely the IPT Registration Cash Assistance (Budi) and the Special Examination Cash Assistance (Bakti) which involves an allocation of RM17.5 million,” he said, adding 5,000 students have received Budi assistance and as many as 40,000 students enjoyed Bakti assistance last year.

Apart from that, Hajiji said, the State Government has introduced funding assistance for more than 1,500 school parent-teacher associations (PTAs) in Sabah in an initiative called Bagus and assistance for computer equipment in schools called Bisbah.

“We are also focusing on vernacular schools and non-Muslim religious bodies in the State, with a total of RM47 million allocated for non-Muslim religious bodies, as well as vernacular, mission and private schools in Sabah this year.

“It reflects the sincerity of the Government in ensuring the welfare of all races and religions in Sabah are taken care of,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister urged all educators in Sabah to continue to be strong pillars in producing excellent students and supporting the building of Sabah Maju Jaya through quality as well as a thriving education system.

“In line with the theme of this year’s Teachers’ Day celebration ‘Guru Tunjang Sekolah Sejahtera’, the Government is confident and believes that with high quality teachers, the nation and country will achieve excellence and glory,” he said.

Hajiji also took the opportunity to congratulate all educators in Sabah who have successfully undertaken challenging tasks during the Covid-19 pandemic period.

At the ceremony, Hajiji also presented the Tokoh Guru Award 2022 to Datin Seri Datuk Dr Hajah Nuinda Alias and the Tokoh Kepimpinan Award to Madaile Basri. He also launched the Tawag Tokoh Guru Sabah book published by the Sabah Education Department.

Also present were Deputy Minister of Education II Datuk Mohamad Haji Alamin; Special Tasks Minister Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif; State Secretary Datuk Seri Sr. Safar Untong and Sabah Education Director Tah Nia Jaman.