ABOUT 70,000 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates in Selangor will receive free meals during the examination period under a special state initiative.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the meals would be provided during the examination period to ensure students did not sit for their papers hungry.
“During the examination period, we will also provide meals to these students so that they can enter the examination hall after having eaten, without any hindrance, and hopefully with greater motivation to sit for the SPM examination,” he said.
Amirudin was speaking after handing out food packs under the Nutrisi Selangor (NutriSel) programme at Sekolah Rendah Agama Integrasi (SRAI) Seksyen 19 in Shah Alam.
He said the special NutriSel SPM 2026 initiative was part of the wider NutriSel programme introduced in August to provide meals to students from lower- income households.
According to Bernama, the programme benefitted 104,640 primary and secondary school students from B40 households, with an allocation of more than RM12.5mil.
Amirudin said RM7.82mil was contributed by local authorities and RM4.73mil by the Selangor Economic Planning Unit (Upen).
Separately, Amirudin said the state is distributing free bread and milk to 993,670 pupils at about 960 schools through the Mega NutriSel initiative in collaboration with Farm Fresh and Gardenia.
Amirudin said Mega NutriSel was a one-off distribution aimed at reaching students more widely.
“Mega NutriSel will continue until Nov 6 or 7, ahead of the SPM examination, with all students receiving the items in a one-off distribution.
“The allocation is smaller than that for the basic NutriSel programme because we want to include all students, with the initiative covering nearly 125,000 pupils in Shah Alam alone,” he said.
At SRAI Seksyen 19, a total of 1,321 pupils received Mega NutriSel food packs, while 37 pupils were recipients under the basic NutriSel programme.
Amirudin said the wider aim of the nutrition programmes was not only to provide free food, but also to encourage students to understand the importance of having a balanced breakfast before starting school.
Selangor state secretary Datuk Dr Ahmad Fadzli Ahmad Tajuddin and Selangor Islamic Religious Department director Datuk Shahzihan Ahmad were also present.
The initiatives are implemented with the involvement of Upen, local authorities, the Selangor Education Department and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department.
