Use tuition vouchers properly, students warned
By S. INDRAMALARKUALA LUMPUR: Students under the tuition voucher scheme must use the vouchers properly or risk losing this assistance from the Education Ministry.
Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein warned students that the ministry would not hesitate to revoke the vouchers if their attendance was slack.
“Unless those selected have valid reasons for not attending the classes, I will not hesitate to pull back the vouchers.
“In fact, if we hear of any wastage of vouchers we will take action and, if necessary, even change the entire scheme or the way it is carried out,” he said after chairing his ministry’s weekly post-Cabinet meeting here yesterday.
Hishammuddin also said that initial feedback showed positive response from pupils and high attendance for the classes, contrary to claims by Nibong Tebal MP Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman that very few pupils were attending the classes.
The MP was quoted as saying last week that only half of the eligible pupils attended the tuition classes, “not only in Seberang Prai Selatan but throughout the country.”
He urged the Education Ministry to re-evaluate the scheme and make changes if necessary.
Refuting his claims, Hishammuddin cited the example of SK Sungai Kecil in Nibong Tebal where the attendance for English was 89.6%, Bahasa Melayu 79.2%, Mathematics 81.5% and Science 85.5%.
“In other states too, particularly Malacca, the Federal Territory and Kelantan, the average attendance is good, even 100% in some cases,” he said.
He added: “The success of the scheme really depends on four parties – school heads, who must identify students truly worthy of this aid; teachers, who must help these students succeed; students who must attend all their classes and study hard; and parents, who must push their children.”
The tuition voucher scheme was implemented four months ago to help primary schoolchildren from poor families who are weak in their studies get extra coaching in four subjects – Mathematics, Science, English and Bahasa Melayu.
A total of RM200mil has been allocated for the scheme that targets 500,000 pupils in Years Four, Five and Six from rural schools and the poor in urban areas.
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