The Ministry of Education (MOE) is exploring the feasibility of remitting start-up aid directly into bank accounts.
According to a message from Deputy Minister of Education Lim Hui Ying in the National Assembly, the Ministry of Education can remit the start-of-school assistance money directly to students’ bank accounts as long as they have a bank account.
Lim Hui Ying noted that currently, only a small number of students have bank accounts, so most of the start-up assistance is still paid in cash to parents.
Students under 12 years old must have a joint bank account with their parents when opening a bank account.
At this stage, school start-up assistance is paid in cash, which requires parents to take special time off work to line up at school to receive the assistance, and also increases the workload of teachers.
The Ministry of Education has already started to distribute the RM150 start-up grant to primary and secondary school students in early January this year, while students who will enter the first grade this March will receive the RM150 start-up grant through their schools in the near future.
