PETALING JAYA: While parents have broadly welcomed the RM150 Early Schooling Aid, which must be collected in person from Jan 11, they have also urged the government to streamline the one-off distribution process to make it more accessible.
Khayrana Pilus, a single mother of four, said the requirement for parents to attend school in person has advantages and drawbacks.
“In principle, the need to be present at school is good in terms of transparency and ensuring the aid is received by the rightful parents.
“However, it is inconvenient for self-employed parents like myself,” the 45-year-old said, adding that time spent collecting the aid often comes at the expense of daily earnings.
Khayrana, who is self-employed, added that the limited time allocated for collection could lead to delays and inconvenience for other parents.
She suggested that improvements be made to the distribution process to accommodate working parents and those in informal employment.
“The main challenge is time constraints and the loss of daily income. There could be more flexible collection times or a simpler method of disbursing the assistance,” she said.
Despite these concerns, Khayrana said the RM150 assistance remains meaningful, especially at the start of the school year when expenses tend to rise.
“The RM150 is very helpful in covering initial costs such as purchasing stationery, exercise books and other basic school necessities. Although the amount is not big, it helps to reduce my financial burden as a single mother,” she added.
Khayrana also said that the aid will have more impact on low-income households, particularly families with more than one school-going child.
Mahen V, 35, proposed that the money be distributed via online transfer to the parents’ account, similar to the one-off RM100 Bantuan Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara) aid.
This move, the father of two said, could benefit parents with more than one child in school.
“This school aid is welcomed by all parents, but sometimes it creates congestion at the school, and we do not want the teachers to feel burdened by this when parents have to physically collect the money.
“We hope there is a more streamlined way for parents to collect the aid. We have been able to collect the aid easily last year, but there was a queue, so it took some time for something that should have taken 10 minutes,” the self-employed worker said.
Fauzi Him, 47, manager, suggested that parents of students at boarding schools be provided with an easier method to collect the aid.
”Parents are grateful to receive the aid because school supplies are not cheap, especially when you want to get the better-quality uniforms that last for more than six months.
“But imagine going to three different states, and my older children need to be registered earlier before Jan 11, so how do we collect the aid?
“I heard from other parents that we can provide a copy of our identity cards for the students to collect the money,” the father-of-three said.
On Jan 5, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when announcing the one-off Early Schooling Aid RM150 aid to all students from Year One to Form Six this year, said parents or guardians are required to collect the assistance in person.
Anwar who is also Finance Minister, said parents must go to the school because they need to ensure the money is spent on their children and also hear directly from teachers about their children’s issues.
He also said the money cannot be collected by students because they have made it a condition that parents must attend, as this involves a large allocation of RM800mil.
