LAWAS: Yayasan Sarawak will continue to give scholarships and loans to help underprivileged students who wish to continue their studies.
According to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, the state government is always looking for ways to ensure that the foundation has sufficient funds for such purposes.
“The state government recognises the importance of education and so we have also established a state ministry of education even though education is the responsibility of the federal government,” he said.
He said this at a dinner for SMK Merapok pre-university students last Saturday at Hotel Seri Malaysia.
He added that the state government had paid RM350 million as the first payment to the federal government to repair or rebuild dilapidated schools in the state.
“However, the 2020 budget has only RM735 million for improving poor schools throughout Malaysia. This is a concern for us as we do not know how much from that amount is allocated for Sarawak,” he said.
He further told the students to diligently acquire knowledge in keeping with current developments.
“The digital economic initiative spearheaded by our chief minister clearly requires technical skills so students should be proficient in the use of information technology,” he said.
Awang Tengah also announced a RM15,000 grant for SMK Merapok pre-university graduation programme.
Also present at the event were Datuk Amar Awang Tengah’s wife, Datuk Dayang Morliah Awang Daud and Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong.
