Malaysia Budget 2011 : Education

If you have been following the Malaysia Budget 2011 presented by our Prime Minister, you will notice many of the budget allocation are for education. We share some of the important points for your perusal :

• Restructuring and strengthening of education and training with the sum of RM29.3 billion allocated for Education Ministry, RM10.2 billion (Higher Education Ministry) and RM627 million (Human Resource Ministry).
• For the Ministry of Education, a sum of RM6.4 billion is allocated for Development Expenditure to build and upgrade schools, hostels, facilities and equipment as well as uphold the status of the teaching profession.
• RM213 million is allocated to reward high performance schools as well as for the remuneration of Principals, Head Teachers and Excellent Teachers.
• The Government will increase pre-school enrolment rate to a targeted 72 per cent by end 2011 through additional 1,700 classes, strengthen the curriculum as well as appoint 800 pre-school graduate teachers.
• The Government also allocates RM111 million for PERMATA programme including the construction of the second phase of Sekolah PERMATA Pintar school complex, 32 PERMATA Children Centres (PAPN) and financing operations of 52 completed PAPNs.
• RM250 million allocated for Development Expenditure for religious schools, Chinese-type schools, Tamil national schools, missionary schools and Government-assisted schools nationwide.
• Recognising the importance of Islamic education, the Government will provide assistance per capita for primary and secondary rakyat religious schools with an allocation of RM95 million.
• To provide competent and quality teachers and instructors to better guide and educate students, the Government allocates RM576 million in the form of scholarships for those wishing to further their studies.
• RM213 million is allocated to enhance proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia, strengthen the English language as well as streamline the standard curriculum for primary schools.
• The Government will recruit 375 native-speaking teachers including from the United Kingdom and Australia to further enhance teaching of English.
• The number of PhD qualified academic staff will be increased to 75 per cent in research universities and to 60 per cent in other public institutions of higher learning with an allocation of RM20 million.
• To assist children particularly those from the low-income group to excel academically, the 1MDB will provide multi-vitamins for primary school students.