Kota Kinabalu: The State Government has allocated RM75.5 million this year to implement 13 educational aid initiatives for students, schools, parent-teacher associations, and Sabahan student associations locally and abroad.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said that among the initiatives being implemented and continued this year are the one-off Higher Education Institution Registration Cash Assistance (Budi), Computer Assistance (Baik), Special Examination Cash Assistance (Bakti), State Education Savings Assistance (Bistari), Parent-Teacher Association Activity Assistance (Bagus), Sabah School Assistance (Bisbah), Minor School Maintenance Assistance (Balkis), Special Education Programme Assistance (Bantu), Sabah Education Excellence Award (Aksa), Sabah Malaysian Student Secretariat (Semesta), and the Sabah Student Flight Ticket Assistance (GRSsubfly).
He said that for the Budi initiative alone, the government has allocated RM20 million, targeting 10,000 students, while RM8 million has been earmarked for Bakti, benefiting 40,000 students this year.
"All of these are in line with the State Government’s policy, as outlined in the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) Development Plan, where we remain committed to making education a key pillar in the development of human capital in the State," he said at the launch of the State Higher Education Student Contribution (Sentosa) programme at the Gaya Campus Teacher Education Institute on Thursday.
Hajiji also announced a new initiative, the one-off School Activity Contribution (Sukses), for all schools in Sabah.
Each school will receive RM3,000 in assistance to support activities or purchase essential school items.
In addition, he said, the State Government has increased the State Government Scholarship (BKNS) fund from RM51 million to RM128 million this year.
