BUKIT MERTAJAM: Form Six students are a step closer to receiving an allowance from the Federal Government after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim agreed to include it in Budget 2027.
Anwar said the government decided on this after pre-university students provided feedback noting the absence of a government allowance for Form Six students.
“From Year One until Form Five, there are allowances. There are allowances at the university level as well but Form Six and pre-university students do not have them.
“So in our budget this October, I will include an allocation and allowance for Form Six students,” he said during a meet-and-greet session at the Teacher Education Institute (IPG) Tuanku Bainun campus here yesterday.
Anwar said he could not disclose the amount of the allowance or details on eligibility and implementation for now.
“We will need to look into our financial capacity before announcing the amount,” he said, adding that the education sector continues to receive the largest allocation under the federal budget as it is central to the country’s future.
“It is not enough yet but every ministry and department says the same (that it is not enough),” he said.
Anwar said access to quality education must continue to be expanded for students from all backgrounds, including those from poor urban and rural families, villages, estates and remote areas.
He said Malaysia’s success should be measured by whether children from disadvantaged communities could access opportunities to become professionals, educators, civil servants and specialists in fields such as artificial intelligence and the semiconductor industry.
Turning to discipline in schools, Anwar said bullying must not be tolerated, particularly among older students who assumed they could intimidate others because they were stronger.
“There is no place in our schools to entertain arrogant people who bully others,” he said.
Anwar said bullies often picked on others because they believed they were stronger without realising there would always be others stronger than them.
He urged teachers and lecturers not to tolerate such behaviour, saying the country needed a society founded on good manners, values, knowledge and moral character.
However, he cautioned against drawing conclusions about the wider student population based on bullying cases involving a small number of students.
As an example, he said there could be 1,000 students in a school and four children are involved in serious bullying but the talk would often only centre on the bullies.
“They do not talk about the other 996 students. I am not trying to downplay bullying incidents but I want to remind everyone not to allow such cases to define the wider student population,” he said.
