Photo shows one of the many hypermarkets in Kuching selling school supplies.
KUCHING (March 9): The Early Schooling Aid (BAP) payment amount should be increased to help the less-privileged households, particularly in light of the rising cost of living.
Zakaria Ngadio, 51, told The Borneo Post that the RM150 per child under BAP, which was disbursed in January, was insufficient when compared against the actual expenses borne by the parents.
“The government should possibly consider increasing the assistance to RM200 per child, taking into account the escalating costs of school supplies. It becomes increasingly challenging for those with many children to cover school-related expenses.
Zakaria Ngadio
“Many parents find themselves struggling to make ends meet, especially with the new school session to open this March 11,” said Zakaria, who had purchased the necessities for his three children, aged 15, 13 and 11, in January, and registered them for school yesterday.
When asked about preparations for the coming Ramadan, he said his family would want ‘to do things in moderation this time’.
For educator Stephanie Prisca, she acknowledged the financial burden faced by today’s parents.
“Based on my own experience as an educator, sometimes parents would request to pay school’s association fees in installments, and schools have no choice but to comply.
“I recently bought uniforms for my eldest child, who is entering Form 1, for RM49 each set. Without counting the cost of bags, shoes and stationery items, we already spent almost RM100 on two sets.
Stephanie Prisca
“For this reason, I encourage her children to reuse their stationeries or bags that are still in good condition,” she said.
According to Stephanie, those entering kindergarten, Year 1, Form 1 and Form 6 are most affected by the ‘sudden’ school-related expenses.
“The government pays between RM300 and RM600 for children entering kindergarten, whereas private kindergartens may cost between RM700 and RM1,000.
“The cost of education nowadays has really changed from the past.”
Meanwhile, Ratna Saimin, a 44-year-old civil servant, also felt the impact upon preparing her children for the new school term.
“My eldest will be staying at a hostel of a local private college this month, while my youngest will enter Form 1.
“I encourage my youngest to reuse the school uniform that used to belong to my middle child, who completed the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, in order to reduce our expenses,” she said.
Ratna Saimin
For her, the year had been quite challenging as the new school term coincided with the fasting month.
“Preparations for entering Form 1 require everything to be brand new in order to keep pupils enthusiastic about school,” said Ratna.
“At the same time, they are awaiting the results of the admission application for art school, to be released on March 25.
“Personally, I do not encourage children to be overly stylish and neglect education. My husband and I believe that education is crucial, but it is up to the children to choose whether or not to follow the advice.
“Through education, children can better themselves and their lives in the future,” she added.
