RM5-Mln Shelter Home For Street Kids
November 13, 2007 09:40 AM
RM5-Mln Shelter Home For Street Kids
KOTA KINABALU, Nov 12 (Bernama) — The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has allocated RM5 million for the building of a shelter home for street children in Sabah.
The home, which is under construction, is situated at Menggatal near here.
Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the ministry, with the collaboration of Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the State Education Department, would also carry out a study to determine the number of street kids in Sabah.
"This is also to enable us to identify the illegal foreign children," she added.
She said a coordinating committee on street kids had been formed at the ministry to find ways to get these children off the streets.
"This committee is not only focused on street kids in Sabah but also nationwide," she told reporters at the ministry’s meet-the-people session here Tuesday.
Shahrizat said parents of street kids could be prosecuted under the Education Act for not sending their children to school because it was compulsory for children to receive primary education.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, who was also present, thanked the ministry and Shahrizat for helping Sabah to solve the problem of street kids.
At the function, Shahrizat also handed out aid of RM300,000 to be distributed to the Welfare and Community Development Council (Mayang), the Nada Nadi Community Programme (Nadi) and the Women and Family Development Council (MPWK).
