Education Ministry Receives RM41.3 Billion in Budget 2016

by StudyMalaysia.com on December 7, 2015 | Top Stories

In his speech on Budget 2016 themed "Prospering the Rakyat", Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak highlighted the budget allocation for education under the third priority: empowering human capital.

Education Ministry Receives RM41.3 Billion in Budget 2016 - StudyMalaysia.com

He emphasised that the education sector will continue to develop in line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025. To facilitate this, the government has allocated RM41.3 billion as its first measure to strengthen Malaysia's quality of education in 2016.

Among the highlights of the education budget for schools are:

30 primary schools, 27 secondary schools, four MARA Junior Science Colleges (MRSM) and five fully residential schools will be built by the government
6 million is allocated to implement various programmes in 9,113 pre-school classes nationwide
RM135 million is allocated for to increase the proficiency of Bahasa Malaysia and English
300 schools will begin a pilot project to increase English proficiency. The Dual Language Programme and the Highly Immersive Programme will be implemented with a budget of RM38.5 million
RM100 schooling assistance will continue but only students from households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below will qualify. This is expected to benefit 3.5 million students through an allocation of RM350 million
The e-Kasih food programme involving 550,000 students from poor families will now include breakfast with an additional cost of RM173 million. The overall cost for the programme is RM423 million
RM500 million is allocated to national schools, national-type Chinese schools, national-type Tamil schools, religious schools, fully residential schools, national religious assisted schools, MARA Junior Science Colleges, registered Sekolah Pondok and national-type Chinese secondary schools or conforming schools which adopt the national curriculum

The second measure is to strengthen higher education. The highlights for the higher education sector include:

Continued scholarships at RM1.65 billion through the Public Service Department; RM288 million through the Ministry of Education; RM250 million through the Ministry of Higher Education; and RM258 million through the Ministry of Health
Maximum relief for taxpayers on higher education tuition fees is increased to RM7,OOO from RM5,OOO a year
The RM250 1Malaysia Book Voucher Programme will continue for 1.2 million students

Education Ministry Receives RM41.3 Billion in Budget 2016 - StudyMalaysia.com

As for the third measure, Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), RM4.8 billion is allocated to 545 TVET institutions. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will establish an Industrial Skills Committee to coordinate TVET programmes in collaboration with industries. These programmes will benefit more than 330,000 trainees:

RM585 million for TVET training equipment at polytechnics, community colleges, MARA Skills Institutes, National Youth Skills Institutes, Industrial Training Institutes, GiatMARA and vocational colleges
RM350 million to finance various TVET training programmes under the Skills Development Fund Corporation
RM80 million to establish a Tourism Academy at Community College in Kota Kinabalu and Vocational College in Sandakan as well as Industrial Training Institute of Serian, Sarawak

In addition, as part of its fourth measure to Empower Youth, Community and NGOs, the National Service Training Programme (PLKN) will receive a budget of RM360 million. This will benefit 20,000 trainees who will undergo a new curriculum that includes creative thinking and technical skills.