Free primary, secondary education in gov't schools from 2012
KUALA LUMPUR: Education in government primary and secondary schools in the country will be free from the 2012 school year, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today.The prime minister said this was to ensure that all Malaysian children irrespective of their socio-economic background had access to quality and
affordable education.
"Currently, students in primary and secondary schools are still required to pay
RM24.50 and RM33.50, respectively, for co-curriculum, internal test papers,
Malaysian Schools Sports Council fees and insurance premium. These payments will
be abolished from 2012," he said when tabling the 2012 Budget proposals in the
Dewan Rakyat.
"With this announcement, for the first time in history, primary and secondary
education is provided free," he added.
Najib's announcement was greeted with applause by MPs in the house.
Najib, who is also finance minister, said the abolition of the payments would
involve an allocation of RM150 million.
He also said that the education sector would be allocated RM50.2 billion in
2012.
For the Education Ministry, he said, development allocation amounting to RM1.9
billion would be spent on all types of school consisting of national schools,
national-type Chinese and Tamil schools, mission schools and government-assisted
religious schools.
In addition, he said, RM1 billion would be provided through a special fund for
the construction, improvement and maintenance of schools, particularly to cater
for the immediate needs of schools.
Of this, RM100 million each would be for the national-type Chinese schools,
national-type Tamil schools, mission schools, government-assisted religious
schools and Mara junior science colleges, and the remaining RM500 million for
national schools, he said.
Najib said the government proposed that private schools registered with the
Ministry of Education and complying with stipulated regulations be given
incentives as the private sector also played an important role in providing
quality education towards creating an excellent future generation.
The incentives are income tax exemption of 70 per cent or Investment Tax
Allowance of 100 per cent on qualifying capital expenditure for a period of five
years; double deduction for overseas promotional expenses to attract more
foreign students; and import duty and sales tax exemptions on all educational
equipment.
"The government hopes that the savings accrued to the private school
operators will subsequently result in the reduction of school fees to ease the
burden of parents," he said.
Najib said tax deductions would be given to companies and individuals
providing financial contributions to upgrade school facilities.
"This facility will be extended to all registered places of worship. The
government will expedite tax exemption approvals for education institutions and
all places of worship," he said.
In addition, he said, the private sector is encouraged to work together in
strengthening the development of high-skilled human capital.
To achieve this, he said, the government proposed tax incentives, namely
double deduction on allowances paid by companies to the participants of
internship programmes; double deduction on scholarship awards, and double
deduction on expenses incurred to participate in career fairs abroad. - Bernama
No comments:
Post a Comment