Director: Over Half Of 19,822 Yayasan Sarawak School Uniform Vouchers Have Reached Recipients

Azmi Bujang

SIBU: Fifty-five per cent of the 19,822 school uniform vouchers issued by Yayasan Sarawak have been disbursed to school-children across the state within a span of four months.

Yayasan Sarawak director Azmi Bujang was happy to see such progress, where the vouchers had been systematically distributed and the foundation received good response from the ground.

“We (Yayasan Sarawak) have already issued 19,822 vouchers to all Resident’s Offices in Sarawak. “Of this number, the Resident’s Offices in collaboration with the Education Department and also the respective assemblymen’s service centres have already disbursed 55 per cent – or 10,882 – of the vouchers.

“We hope that everything would be completed before November. We are now getting all the dates from the elected representatives, ministers and deputy chief ministers. The Chief Minister (Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg) will also distribute (the vouchers) in his area later on.

“In line with this development, we are very happy that the programme is proceeding very well; we are able to distribute these vouchers systematically and have received good response from the locals especially the recipients, who are able to choose their own uniforms, their correct size and the quality of their preference,” he told reporters here yesterday after a review meeting with representatives of the Resident’s and district offices across the state, which was also attended by Yayasan Sarawak deputy director Ellen Manium Engang and state Education Department assistant director (students affairs) Ahmad Uni.

According to Azmi, the voucher programme is the state government’s initiative implemented by Yayasan Sarawak which in turn, works together with the Resident’s and district offices, state Education Department, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) and the elected people’s representatives.

In this regard, he said the same budget would be allocated for the programme next year.

“We hope to do it better next year by addressing and solving whatever weaknesses that we have, as we want to see this policy implemented to the best of its intention so that it would benefit the people on ground. Next year, we will strive to do it earlier so that students can benefit from it much earlier,” he said.

On the criteria for the voucher programme, Azmi said Yayasan Sarawak had been working closely with the Resident’s and district offices.

“They will go through the E-Kasih list, which has been verified at district and divisional levels, as well as through Education (Department).”

Azmi said each voucher was worth RM100 per person previously but later, the government felt that the amount was insufficient – as such, it is increased to RM200 this year.

On a question about any replacement should one lose or misplace the voucher, Azmi advised the recipient to report it to Yayasan Sarawak immediately.

“This way, we could cancel the previous voucher (that was lost) and replace it with a new one.

“We don’t want anyone else other than the registered recipient to use the voucher. Be assured that each voucher hyas good security features. If any voucher has been tampered with, the bank would not recognise it.

“Having said this, the recipients must keep their vouchers in good condition, in view of the very sensitive security features. Please note that the vouchers must be exchanged before this Nov 30,” Azmi reminded.