KUALA LUMPUR, 12 October 2022: Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, revealed that the Ministry of Education has been allocated RM56.6 billion while the Ministry of Higher Education has been allocated RM15.1 billion in 2023 Budget.
The Ministry of Education has always been top three in allocations for the past three years including third in 2022 Budget, second in 2021 Budget, and first in 2020 Budget.
The Ministry of Education received an increase in allocation from 11.2 percent of 2022 Budget’s total to 15 percent of 2023 Budget’s total.
The Ministry of Higher Education also received an increase in allocation from RM14.5 billion in 2022 Budget to RM15.1 billion in 2023 Budget.
The increased in the budget showed that government prioritised education as one of the most important sectors in the country.
Senior Private Secretary to the Chairman of National Recovery Council, Datuk Dr. Marzuki Mohamad agreed that the Ministry of Education should continue being prioritised in future national budgets.
“Education is very important to the country, especially in preparing the future generation to contribute to the country’s future development,” he said in an exclusive interview with IIUMToday.
“The Ministry of Education is one of the biggest ministries in the country with half a million teachers and five to six million students which requires a lot of financial allocations,” he emphasised.
Datuk Marzuki stressed that huge allocation is needed every year to assist students and teachers in the form of text books and digital devices as well as salaries and training for teachers.
He explained that the allocation is also to develop and operate roughly 10,000 schools around the country with additional students every year demanding more schools to be built, especially in urban areas where more money is needed to acquire land and costly building materials.
From the Ministry of Education’s 2023 budget, around RM6.7 billion will be allocated for technical and vocational education training, RM3.8 billion for scholarships and education loan, and RM1.1 billion for school maintenance and repairs.
Despite getting allocated a lot of funding this year, more money is still required to guarantee educational equity and make up for learning losses exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ***