The government has adopted an inclusive approach in considering contributions to non-profit educational institutions, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

Lim said in a statement that the federal government strived to assist schools and other educational institutions registered with the Education Ministry according to its financial capability.

He also criticised certain quarters who, he claimed, played up racial sentiments over the allocations to Chinese educational institutions, such as Chinese private secondary schools and the New Era University College.

Lim said the Finance Ministry had previously allocated RM15 million to Universiti Islam Malaysia (UIM) which was a non-profit private tertiary institution.

The Pakatan Harapan government practised an inclusive policy to upgrade and maintain all categories of schools by providing RM652 million in Budget 2019 compared to the RM615 million provided in Budget 2018, he said.

The Budget 2019 allocations also included RM12 million handed to Chinese private secondary schools last Friday, and RM25 million for sekolah pondok religious schools that were handed over to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa on Jan 8, he said, adding that such allocations were not provided in Budget 2018.

Lim said that according to the Education Ministry, there were 151 registered sekolah pondok with an enrolment of 10,723, and 107 Sekolah Menengah Agama Rakyat (SMAR) religious schools with an enrolment of 24,651.

“A total of 35,364 sekolah pondok pupils and SMAR students will benefit to the tune of RM707 per person.

“As for the Chinese private secondary schools, of which there are 62 with an enrolment of 84,462, each student will benefit to the tune of RM142,” he said.

Lim said it was disappointing that certain quarters were still harping on racial issues in the context of education, and added that this act was unhealthy as it would deny the opportunity to provide inclusive education and stifle efforts to achieve excellence.

"As a truly inclusive administration, the Harapan government hopes that the people can be committed to supporting the agenda of education excellence for all to drive economic development,” he said.

Last Saturday, Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, in a post on his Facebook account, questioned the government aid to the New Era University College, saying Budget 2019 only mentioned funds for Chinese private schools.

The following day, the Education Ministry explained that the special allocation was from the Finance Ministry, and that it had no financial allocation for the private college from the funds allocated to it under Budget 2019.

- Bernama