KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has strengthened its commitment to human capital development by rolling out 14 educational assistance initiatives totalling RM210.25mil in the past five years, says Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
The Sabah Chief Minister said that of this amount, 90,296 higher education students and 184,911 school students had received assistance.
He added that a total of 1,500 schools, including religious schools, and 57 Sabah student associations in higher education institutions also benefited, alongside the implementation of 362 educational programmes.
Hajiji said for this year alone, the state government has allocated RM100mil for the Sabah State Government Scholarship, which is expected to benefit 5,000 students.
He said the state government will continue all 14 education initiatives this year, including the one-off Higher Education Registration Cash Assistance (Budi), Computer Assistance Initiative (Baik), Special Examination Cash Assistance (Bakti), State Education Savings Assistance (Bistari), PIBG Activity Assistance (Bagus), Sabah School Assistance (Bisbah), School Minor Maintenance Assistance (Balkis) and Special Education Programme Assistance (Bantu).
Also to be continued are the Sabah Education Excellence Awards (Aksa), Sabah Malaysia Student Secretariat (Semesta), Sabah Graduate Returns Home Assistance or Sabah Student Flight Ticket Subsidy (GRS-SUBFLY), Sentosa, One-Off School Activities Contribution (Sukses) and the new assistance MUET Registration Fee Assistance (Bayu).
He said the initiatives involve funding and facilities for various purposes, including higher education student registration, education programmes, and digital and facility support in line with the 13th Malaysia Plan agenda.
Hajiji stressed that although education falls under federal jurisdiction, the state government remains proactive in fostering continuous cooperation to ensure fair and equitable access to education for all levels of society in Sabah.
