Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the move was to help alleviate the financial burden of these families when their children pursue higher education.
Speaking at the Johor State Assemblymen Wives Association’s (Juita) Deepavali celebration here, he said the state would identify the families soon.
“This way, each of these families will have a member who is well-educated or has valuable job skills in two to four years’ time.
Relief for the poor: Jamilah (second from right) presenting Deepavali cash aid and gifts to poor people in Ledang recently. “We feel there is a need for the state to help such families because they belong to the bottom 30% of people living outside the poverty bracket.”
He said besides this aid for tertiary studies, the state would also assist children from families whose household income is below RM1,000 per month, to learn a trade.
He said this was to support Juita’s plan to help single mothers or their children to learn marketable skills to improve their livelihood.
Earlier, Juita president Datin Paduka Prof Jamilah Ariffin said about 100 poor people, including 10 orang asli, were selected to receive Deepavali aid.
She said the recipients who earned less than RM800 a month, including the sickly and the elderly, were selected by the Ledang MIC division.
Apart from the cash aid of RM200 each, said Prof Jamilah, the recipient also received clothes and food items from Juita’s total allocation of RM25,000 for the aid programme.
She also said that Juita would provide skill-training courses to single mothers or their children who wanted to pick up a skill to improve their incomes.
“We have set up three training centres in Segamat, Kluang and Johor Baru, and those interested can see their respective assemblymen for information on how to apply for the courses,” she added.
SOURCE: THE STAR, NOVEMBER 2, 2010
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