PUTRAJAYA: The Finance Ministry today handed over an allocation of RM100 million for maintenance and upgrading of Islamic education institutions, comprising tahfiz and pondok schools, as well as “Sekolah Agama Rakyat” (SAR), in the country.
A replica cheque for the amount was presented by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa at the Finance Ministry here.
According to Lim, RM50 million of the total allocation is for tahfiz schools, with the remaining for registered SAR and pondok schools.
“The allocation is an increase of RM50 million from the allocation made by the previous government in Budget 2018, which made no allocation for SAR and pondok schools”, he said.
Lim said the RM100 million allocation provided by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government reflected its continuous commitment to provide students at Islamic education institutions with a safe and comfortable learning environment.
Lim said the disbursement of the allocation would be made early in the year, instead of in stages, in line with the approach taken by the government to accelerate implementation and improve the public delivery service for 2020.
The RM100 million allocation is part of the RM735 million for maintenance of all types of schools for 2020, which is a significant increase compared to RM652 million for 2019, he added.
Meanwhile, Mujahid said there were currently 205 pondok institutions, 1,026 tahfiz schools and 1,880 SAR schools.
The main requirement for them to receive the aid is to register with the Islamic religious council in their respective states, he added. - Bernama
