Did The Education Ministry Reduce The Amount Of BB1M Allocation For Students This Year?
Some students have complained about their universities giving out the RM250 worth book vouchers on a first-come, first-served basis.
By Tang Ruxyn — 20 Apr 2016, 06:52 PM
In last year's Budget 2016, the government allocated RM300 million for the 1Malaysia Book Vouchers (BB1M), whereby students will receive RM250 worth of vouchers
The BB1M programme was kick-started by the government during the tabling of Budget 2012.
The government's main objective of introducing this programme, is to ease parents' burdens by assisting the students to buy books, as well as to promote reading culture among Malaysians.
In a sudden turn of events, students from various local universities have revealed that BB1M is given out on a first-come-first-served basis this year, contrary to how it is usually given to all students in local universities
While some universities have opted for the "first-come, first-served" basis approach, other universities have instead pre-selected the students that are eligible for BB1M due to the limited number of vouchers provided by the government
In its BB1M 2016 guideline handbook, the Ministry Of Higher Education (MOHE) said that all of the estimated 1.2 million students in pre-university and higher learning institutions will receive the BB1M vouchers
Social media postings by a local university's community page showed that some students have gone to the extreme lengths to get the book vouchers
From jumping queues to lining up under heavy rain, the postings showed how these students from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) were more than eager to receive their book vouchers.
Local Mandarin daily Kwong Wah Yit Poh, reported that thousands of students from TAR UC in Kuala Lumpur queued up as early as three in the morning to ensure that they will not miss out on getting their share of BB1M. The university apparently handed out the vouchers over the span of three days, from 22 March till 24 March, on a first-come-first-served basis.
Kwong Wah Yit Poh also reported that the government has apparently only provided 75% of the vouchers to the university this year, due to unspecified reasons.