Funds for mission schools not missing
Putrajaya's RM50 million allocation for mission schools have not gone missing, said the Federation of Christian Mission Schools (FCMSM), following a meeting with government officials yesterday.
In a statement, FCMSM chairperson Moey Yoke Lai said they were informed that an RM1.2 million from the total have been disbursed to the state education departments instead of directly to the schools, which was the previous practice...
Putrajaya's RM50 million allocation for mission schools have not gone missing, said the Federation of Christian Mission Schools (FCMSM), following a meeting with government officials yesterday.
In a statement, FCMSM chairperson Moey Yoke Lai said they were informed that an RM1.2 million from the total have been disbursed to the state education departments instead of directly to the schools, which was the previous practice.
In view of this, only some schools had received the money so far.
He said following the meeting, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mah Hang Soon directed his officers to revert to the original method of depositing the funds to the accounts held by each school's board of governors.
"The money had not gone missing," stressed Moey, who also expressed gratitude towards Mah.
Moey explained that over the past decade, the government had banked in the money for mission schools directly into the accounts held by the respective school boards, who in turn would provide monthly reports on how the funds are spent.
However, the cabinet decided on Nov 1 last year that the money would be managed by the Asset Management Department of the Education Ministry.
"The department would then determine the amount to be given to the schools and this would be project-based distribution.
"Thus, the school boards would no longer handle the monies," he said.
Mah had called for a meeting with the FCMSM two days after the group stated that many schools have not received the monies pledged by the government for maintenance or upgrade.
FCMSM said so after Mah had previously revealed publicly that an RM1.2 million out of the RM50 million had already been disbursed.
Putrajaya began allocating RM50 million annually for mission schools since 2010 under Najib Abdul Razak’s administration.
The disbursement method for this year was changed by the Pakatan Harapan’s administration.
