By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, March 4: Sarawak Minister of Women, Early Childhood, and Community Wellbeing (KPWK) Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah has demanded a fundraising campaign to name schools after it alleged that 84 per cent of Sarawakian children are undernourished.
Fatimah was referring to a fundraising campaign quoting the data allegedly taken from the Household Income Survey Report 2022 by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
“The data simply indicates that eight out of ten Sarawakian children are undernourished.
“To say that 84 per cent of Sarawak children are undernourished shocks me, especially when the statistics from Institute of Public Health 2016, 2023, which show that 19.4 per cent (2016) and 15.6 per cent (2023) of children below five years are underweight,” she said in a statement today.
Fatimah further said in Sarawak, the State government has provided the Annual Special Grant for registered early childhood institutions (ECIs) since 2019, which can be used for balanced and healthy meals for the children, fun learning, experiential learning and digitalisation of early childhood care and education; parents’ involvement programmes; and continuous professional development for educators and caregivers.
Since 2019, this grant has helped 13,716 ECIs with a total allocation of RM68.84 million.
Apart from that, she pointed out that the Ministry of Education (MOE) also provides Rancangan Makanan Tambahan (RMT) for school children.
“If they (fundraising campaign organiser) can furnish us with names of schools that they will provide the food, the Sarawak Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) and the State Education Department can verify the situation on the ground, whether the primary children receive RMT (or not),” she emphasised. — DayakDaily
