KUCHING: The state government has approved the usage of the Special Annual Grant (GTK) for two additional purposes to reduce the burden of operators of registered taska (nurseries) and tadika (kindergartens) in Sarawak, which were closed during the movement control order (MCO) and conditional MCO periods.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the relaxation of criteria would allow the fund to be used to pay for rent of premises and salaries of teachers and staff, especially of private early childhood education institutions (IPAKKs).
“Secondly, GTK can now also be used to purchase cleaning and sanitisation supplies to fulfil post Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs),” she said at a press conference at the old State Legislative Assembly (DUN) complex in Petra Jaya yesterday.
She said the supplies included infrared thermometers as well as sanitisers, as it was outlined in the SOP that children would need to undergo a temperature check and sanitisation process before entering their classes.
“If the IPAKKs do not have such items yet, they can use the GTK to purchase them. What is important is that we are informed of how the grant is used,” she said.
She said that previously, registered IPAKKs in Sarawak could only use the RM5,000 allocation for four objectives — preparation of balanced meals for the children, fun learning activities, professional development of educators and caregivers, and programmes which involved parents.
“We have done a survey on operators of private taska and tadika and found that one of the issues they face is that parents do not want to pay fees for the duration of the centres’ closure.
“The second issue is when parents do not want to pay the fees, the operators face difficulties in paying salaries of teachers and staff,” said Fatimah.
“We hope that the approved relaxation in GTK usage would help operators of private taska and tadika, aside from other assistances they can apply for through the Prihatin Package, Prihatin+, and Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) — such as the Employment Retention Programme, wage subsidy programme, and so on,” she said.
She said the total number of registered IPAKKs in Sarawak is 3,188 including those in both government and private sectors.
According to her, about 50 percent of taska and tadika had applied for GTK and some already received their payment around after Chinese New Year.
She hoped that IPAKKs which had not applied would do so and state their intended usage for the grant, adding that they would have to be registered to qualify for the allocation.
