KUALA TERENGGANU: Excellent students in Terengganu will continue to be sent abroad to further their education, assured an executive councillor.
State education, science, technology and special functions committee chairman Ghazali Taib said the Terengganu Islamic and Malay Customs Council (Maidam) would continue to finance students according to the asnaf fisabilillah allocation.
“Maidam has set aside RM3.5 million for education. For the first five months this year, Maidam spent RM2.8 million on 440 students to be sent abroad, in addition to the RM343,000 from the overseas education fund for 50 students.
“The state government via Maidam will re-evaluate the funding from time to time to ensure students obtain quality education,” he said.
Ghazali added that to date 95 students had benefitted from the zakat allocation alone.
He said for two years since 2010, Maidam had sponsored 95 students in Middle-East universities under the Ulama Instituitional Fortification, Al-Ansar Undergraduate (Islamic Studies), maternity and women’s health specialist programmes at Universiti Mu’tah in Amman, the Al-bayt Yarmouk and Science and Technology University in Jordan.
“However, in 2013, Maidam decided to change its policy by absorbing 40 of the 95 students to pursue education at the Terengganu Foundation.
“Thus far, 49 of them (overseas and local) have completed their Islamic studies, while the remaining will complete next year,” he said.
Ghazali added that Maidam would also sponsor 26 Islamic Studies Instituition in Kemaman graduates to further their degree with the Usuluddin and Arabic language in September.