ISKANDAR PUTERI: Chinese schools have been urged not to sit on the funds allocated by the Federal Government but utilise them for the necessary maintenance and repair works within the next three months.

This is to make future applications for allocation smoother, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon.

He said schools should utilise the disbursed grant as soon as possible and submit a report to the Education Ministry.

“There is no point keeping the money in the bank while it is meant for the maintenance and repair works of schools,” Chong said yesterday.

He was speaking to the press after handing out RM7.175mil to 122 government-aided schools in Johor together with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

Chong advised schools to take advantage of the March school holidays to carry out the repair and maintenance jobs, and produce reports for the ministry, which would then be presented to the Finance Ministry to request for funds in the next national budget.

Dr Wee, who is also MCA deputy president and Johor MCA liaison committee chairman, said there were 127 government-aided Chi­nese primary schools in the state, four of which were missionary schools that were entitled to allocations under a different cate-gory.

SJK (C) Chung Hwa in Tangkak was the only school in Johor that did not apply for funds.

Dr Wee said the under-enrolled school had received funds from the Government every year since 2009 to upgrade and repair the school building, hall and football field.

“The school had written to the ministry to say it will not be needing any extra funds this year as the school is already in good condition,” said Dr Wee, praising the school for its exemplary act.

He added that since Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak took over as Prime Minister in 2008, the Government had allocated RM595mil to government-aided Chinese vernacular schools nationwide and Johor received RM69.1mil of the total.

“I have previously promised the people of Johor that the disbursement will be made by February and we have fulfilled the promise. Schools in other states will receive their allocation soon,” he said.

Dr Wee said 89 Chinese primary schools in Johor also received RM2mil from the state government, which did not include the additional funds announced by the Johor Mentri Besar during his visits to the different districts.

There are 1,298 Chinese primary schools in the country, 884 of which are government-aided.

-The Star-