Penang govt to help school for mentally retarded children obtain funds

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government will assist the school for Mentally Retarded Children to obtain funds as the school has not received federal funding since May 2016.
State Health, Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin (pix) said the school was supposed to receive around RM30,000 a year.
He did not elaborate why the funds were not channelled but said the money was able to help the school and the students studying there.
He said he will bring the matter up with the state government as well as suggest for the state to write a letter to the relevant authorities to resolve the issue.
"This is an urgent matter which needs to be settled quickly as funds are needed to help these children.
"I hope the public will step up and donate to the school to help them out," he said when attending the International University Malaya Wales (IUMW) corporate social responsibility program there today.
The senior assistant of the school Ng Lai Peng said the school relied on donations from the public to continue to operate.
"We will not collect money from the children," she stressed adding the school currently has 85 students aged between five to 18.
IUMW Centre of Foundation Studies lecturer Wan Mohd Azfar, 34, said students and faculty have raised funds for the school as part of their programme.
He said he was happy his students were willing to lend a hand to those in need and were grateful for the opportunity to give back to society.
"My students, 34 of them from the Foundation in Arts and Sciences, came all the way from Kuala Lumpur to help out," he said.
One of them, Aizadoc Salmenova, 20, who hails from Kazakhstan, said she felt happy to be able to contribute to the local community.
"I am happy that I can help in some way," she said.