INANAM: All students receiving aid under the Poor Students Trust Fund Group Assistance (KWAPM) scheme should also be included in the E-Kasih list beginning next year to be fair to all.
This is because the proposal to channel monetary assistance under the KWAPM scheme to only hardcore poor students under the E-Kasih list would not fully achieve the objectives of the Government.
Karambunai Assemblywoman Datuk Jainab Ahmad said the proposal would sideline many poor students who have been registered under KWAPM list at their respective schools.
"I was quite shocked to learn that the KWAPM list would be re-processed and it is believed only hardcore poor students would be accepted as the recipients of the KWAPM funds beginning next year.
"Sabah still has quite a number of poor people who earn below RM960 a month while the hardcore poor are categorised as those earning below RM540 per month.
"To ensure all are helped, I feel this should be further looked into because it is not in tandem with our Prime Minister's concept of 1Malaysia:
People's First, Performance Now," she said.
In addition, Jainab said it is also the Government's aspiration to achieve zero poverty in a few years.
Therefore, it would be best if the existing KWAPM lists in Sabah are also registered in the E-Kasih list to ensure the education needs of the recipients would be met continuously, she said.
Jainab, who is also Resource Development and Information Technology Assistant Minister, said this after presenting KWAMP assistance to 450 pupils of SK Inanam 2, Friday.
Each pupil will be receiving a total of RM700 consisting of RM200 in general aid and RM50 monthly assistance to cater to the pupils' needs.
Jainab also called on all school administrations to assist in registering their present lists of KWAPM recipients under the E-Kasih so that no poor and hardcore poor students are sidelined from getting the funding.
In a related development, she also proposed that school administrations handle the KWAPM aid for the recipients if parents are found to be not spending the KWAPM money to meet the children's education needs.
"I was made to understand that the school here received a few reports on parents not spending the KWAPM aid for their children's needs.
"The schoolteachers realised this when the concerned pupils were still wearing worn out school uniforms, torn and old shoes to the classrooms and there were no changes to their physical appearance," she said.
Towards this end she urged class teachers to play their part in monitoring the situation and report to the school administration for further action.
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