No sign of promised school supplies for KL’s needy pupils

Parents in the B40 group say they had to rush to buy school uniforms and shoes for their children as they did not receive the items promised to them by the Federal Territories Foundation. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

HUNDREDS of schoolgoing children in Kuala Lumpur who were supposed to receive free school uniforms and shoes from the Federal Territories Foundation (YWP) for the new school term were left in the lurch.

The promised items were not delivered and several parents called StarMetro to complain that the items, which were supposed to have been disbursed before school reopened on Jan 2, were not delivered. This resulted in some parents scrambling to do last-minute shopping on Jan 1.

“I had to rush to a shopping centre to catch the last day of the back-to-school sale,’’ said Rohayu Samad from Cheras.

She said they expected the uniforms to arrive last month to allow them to do alterations if needed.

“We did not expect the delay,’’ added Rohayu, who has two schoolgoing children.

Another parent from Setapak said she was disappointed that the uniforms and shoes were not delivered on time, but added that she was lucky to have back-up options.

YWP is the welfare arm of the Federal Territories Ministry, and one of its corporate social responsibility projects is the Back-to-School programme.

The annual programme initiated several years ago was aimed at providing school aid in the form of school uniforms, shoes, and bags.

Deserving students from the B40 income group are the recipients of the programme.

Once selected, YWP will pass the items to Kuala Lumpur MPs to be disbursed to the schools in their respective constituencies.

StarMetro contacted Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng’s office to find out if there was a delay, and his special assistant Adeline Soh confirmed that their office did not receive the items.

“We were told that the uniforms were supposed to be delivered to us for disbursement in early December.

“We received a call from a YWP staff who said there would be a delay and that we would only get the uniforms at the end of December,’’ said Soh, adding that she was later told the uniforms would only arrive this month.

“We are still waiting and our office has been inundated with calls from parents asking us about the uniforms and shoes,’’ she said, adding that 400 students from Kepong were chosen for the programme.

She also questioned the move to order uniforms and shoes from a supplier overseas when many local manufacturers could offer cheap and quality products.

YWP Corporate Communications, Research and Special Task Division manager Ida Harlina Ikhwan Nasir confirmed the delay.

“We apologise for the unexpected delay.

“Since we are dealing with hundreds of schools, there are procedures to follow and that would take time.

“Details like getting the right uniform and shoe sizes also delayed things further when the order was made,’’ she said.

Ida Harlina assured that only the manufacturer with the best quality and pricing was chosen.

“We would never compromise on quality and we also made sure that the schools were informed of the delay,’’ she said, adding that this year, 20,000 students would benefit from the programme compared to last year where only 16,000 received the school supplies.