GEORGE TOWN: The Education Ministry (MOE) plans to implement the Madani Book Voucher through online methods to curb previous occurrences of leakages.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said the ministry found that students did not purchase books with the vouchers in years before 2018, and instead sold the vouchers at lower prices to obtain cash.
"We know this is a problem and one of the issues of leakage we have, so this time, we will use online methods through the Digital Educational Learning Initiative Malaysia (Delima) platform, where our children can redeem the book vouchers online and make purchases online.
"All book operators have a presence on the Delima platform and Perbadanan Kota Buku (KPM) to sell books to students, and they will be delivered via post, with that we can achieve zero leakages,” he said after attending the Smart Board handover at Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Lanchang here on Tuesday (Jan 21), where 13 schools received smart boards totalling RM221,000.
He added that the book vouchers would not only inculcate reading habits among students but benefit many other parties, including book authors and publishers, and create a clear economic chain.
The Madani Book Voucher has benefited 3.5 million students throughout the country with redemptions worth RM287mil to buy books as of Dec 31, Wong said.
In a separate matter, he said there were no issues with rejection in the Initial Schooling Aid 2025 distributed last week by any parties, including parents and guardians.
"The ministry has set an important condition, which is to ensure that there are no rejections of the RM150 aid.
"This year, the ministry created history again by channelling RM791mil to all states for the aid, with 100,000 people receiving it,” he said. – Bernama
