PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya, especially the education ministry, should emulate Sarawak in making funds accessible for mission and vernacular schools, says Anglican bishop of Kuching Danald Jute.
Jute said the Sarawak government has made state funds easily accessible through the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor), the Borneo Post reported.
He also said only a few schools have managed to obtain funding from the federal government, even though allocations are made for this purpose in the federal budget.
“We know that government schools get plenty of allocations to improve their facilities. Other schools have the opportunity to access these funds too, but not without a lot of difficulties,” he was quoted as saying while officiating the St Columba’s 94th Patronal Day at the school yesterday.
“Therefore, providing (better) access to funding by the state and federal governments would greatly help students from different backgrounds.
“For a mission school such as St Columba’s, I am confident that every sen channelled by the government would be used fully. The government should not worry or have any suspicion about how the funds would be utilised by the schools.”
In Budget 2023, the education ministry was allocated RM900 million for maintenance works of national schools, religious schools and vernacular schools.
However, in March, MCA president and Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong said in the Dewan Rakyat that there is no clear breakdown of allocations for Chinese and Tamil schools, which he said would pose problems for these schools.
He called on the education ministry to explain the formula for the allocation distribution for vernacular schools.
