PETALING JAYA: A range of initiatives has been allocated for the education sector under Budget 2022.

       Receiving the largest chunk of next year’s budget at RM52.6bil, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said a total of RM450mil has been allocated for early school aid for a total of three million students, and each student will receive RM150.

       “This is an increase from RM100 previously. With schools starting to reopen, a conducive learning environment for children will continue to be given attention.

       “Next year, a total of RM1bil will be provided for school maintenance and repair work,” he said.

       This allocation involves national schools, religious, tahfiz and registered pondok schools.

       Of that amount, he said RM120mil has been allocated for maintenance and improvement work for 1,800 Tamil and Chinese vernacular schools.

       Dilapidated schools received an allocation of RM746mil for upgrading work, which involves 330 projects, including 112 schools in Sabah and 165 in Sarawak.

       Under the free school meals programme, RM400mil has been allocated to provide free milk daily, while RM50mil is allocated to enhance the education agenda in special needs schools, such as purchasing teaching equipment, improving facilities and building eight special needs education blocks in SMK Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen, Perlis and SMK Agama Alor Gajah, Melaka.

       “A one-off payment of RM100 will be provided to more than 400,000 teachers under the Special Incentives for Teaching Aids,” he added.