SP Setia allocates RM1,000 per child for tuition or textbooks

More than 200 needy primary pupils who were selected as part of SP Setia Foundation’s Adoption programme in Sabah will be able to continue their studies more comfortably now.

The adoption programme provides an annual allocation of RM1,000 for each pupil.

Year Three pupil Tan Eng Hong said he was happy to be chosen as a participant.

“My father is a lorry driver while my mother is a housewife, so I’m sure this will be able to help lessen my parents’ burden,” he said, adding that he would study hard to continue enjoying the assistance from SP Setia.

Meanwhile, single mother Erna Omar, 36, said she was shocked and reluctant to let her son be part of the programme until the teachers explained it to her.

“I thought the adoption programme meant I would have to give up my child, but it appeared that my child will only be assisted for the purpose of education, so I am glad the foundation is kind enough to help the poor Sabah people,” she said.

SP Setia Foundation chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the programme, which started in the peninsula in 2000, provided RM1,000 to selected pupils for their tuition or textbooks.

“We start from primary pupils and if they perform excellently in the UPSR, the foundation will continue to assist them through their high school up to tertiary level,” he said.

 Lee added that selected children need not be top students, but must continuously show improvement in their studies or the assistance would be given to others.

An allocation of RM1,000 per year would be given to each selected primary pupil while RM1,200 worth of assistance in the form of stationery, tuition fees or textbooks would be given to secondary school students.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai said he hoped parents would work with teachers to motivate and guide students in their studies.

Source: The Star