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SHAH ALAM, 13 FEB: The Klang District Kemas Office claims to have issued a directive to the Port Klang Kemas Nursery to withdraw their application for the Selangor Kindergarten Assistance Scheme (Tunas) of RM50 which is being offered by the State Government.
According to the Tunas State Operating Officer, Abdul Mutalib Islan, the Port Klang Kemas Nursery were among the preschools to have submitted applications prior to this, however they decided to withdraw the applications upon the orders issued by the Klang District Kemas Office.
“At the moment, there are no applicants except from the Port Klang Kemas Nursery however, upon higher-ups orders, the application was to be withdrawn so as to reject the Tunas Scheme.
“Kindergartens under the Federal Government currently registered are preschools and Unity Kindergarten. For this Kemas nursery, I do not know the problems they are facing,” he said when contacted by TV Selangor.
He said that Tunas has also received many applications from parents who send their children to the Kemas nursery however, it could not be approved because the kindergarten is not registered under the scheme.
In relation to that, he said that Tunas will hold a special briefing in the near future together with the management of kindergartens registered under the Federal Government to encourage them to register under the scheme.
“Many parents have asked for the form, but our policy is that when a kindergarten is not registered, we cannot approve the application. Surveys have also shown that many parents who have registered their children under the Federal Government Ministries earn a low income.
“We will continue efforts to persuade them and we will not give up as this is being requested by the parents themselves. We do not what there to be another demonstration that blames the State Government fr not keeping promises,” he added.
TV Selangor tried to contact several branches of Kemas Nursery District Offices for a response regarding the issue, however they gave the excuse that Tunas had never offered the scheme to the Nurseries.
The Tunas scheme under the Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor (MES) agenda is an assistance for kindergarten fees of RM50 per month for low-income families to send their children to kindergarten.
The RM50 aid is paid directly to kindergartens registered under the Selangor Kindergarten Collaborative Council (MPTS).
Since its introduction on 1 July 2012, a total of 217 kindergarten and preschool applications have been accepted by the end of year 2012. Meanwhile there are 339 applications for the year 2013, as of 31 January 2013. Meanwhile, 339 applicants were received for the year 2013 as of 31 January.
A total of 1,903 parents have also submitted applications for the Tunas Scheme for the year 2012, while 1,800 applicants have been recorded as of 31 January 2013.
For the year 2013, MPTS has a target of 5,000 parent’s applications for the Tunas Scheme until the end of December.
So far, the Klang district recorded the highest amount of applications with 528 applications for the year 2012 and 409 as of 31 January 2013.