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Over 1,000 more students to get support from ST School Pocket Money Fund due to more inclusive criteria

MES Group founder and chief executive Mohamed Abdul Jaleel Muthumaricar S M (right) presents a cheque to ST editor Jaime Ho at the appreciation lunch on Oct 4. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI

More than 1,000 students will now be able to benefit from The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF) as its eligibility criteria have become more inclusive from Oct 4.

Students under the Ministry of Education’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and ComCare assistance will automatically qualify for the scheme, said Mr Jaime Ho, chairman of STSPMF, and do not need to provide supporting documents when applying for it. 

The housing type eligibility criterion of four-room Housing Board flat or smaller to qualify for the scheme will be removed, Mr Ho said, and agencies can now submit applications for their clients to receive support for up to 12 months, an increase from the current six.

Mr Ho, who is the editor of The Straits Times, announced these changes at the annual STSPMF appreciation lunch held at SPH News Centre in Toa Payoh on Oct 4 to thank the fund’s donors, partners, disbursing agencies and schools that have supported it. 

“With these changes, we estimate that about 15 per cent more students can access our fund,” he said. In 2023, the fund helped about 8,000 students.

The STSPMF was started in 2000 by The Straits Times to help children from low-income families – those with per capita gross monthly household income of less than $750 – through school.

Primary school pupils receive $65 a month, while secondary school students get $100. Those from the Institute of Technical Education, junior colleges and polytechnics are given $125 a month.

To date, the fund has helped more than 220,000 children and disbursed more than $100 million. 

Mr Ho said that the fund will be offering a one-time special grant of $100 to each beneficiary in 2024 to further support their educational expenses.

About 7,500 students are expected to benefit from this grant, he added. 

During the event, businessman Mohamed Abdul Jaleel, founder and chief executive of MES Group, donated $500,000. 

In 2023, Mr Jaleel donated the same amount to STSPMF, and since 2010, he has contributed about $6 million. 

Secondary 3 student Tanisha Ganeson has been a beneficiary of the fund for less than a year but told ST that she has already seen the impact it has on her life. 

“I’m more free to do the things I want and buy the things I like,” said Tanisha, who is from Crest Secondary School, adding that she spent the bulk of her school life worrying about expenses.

After her mother, who is a single parent, lost her job during the Covid-19 pandemic, Tanisha had to stretch her $10 a day to cover meals and educational expenses, which left the 15-year-old with almost no savings.

“I remember being in Sec 1, when my mother and I were still tight on cash. I had to turn down all my friends’ invites to hang out after school,” she said. “I felt really sad, and I really wanted to go out, but I was worried about my expenses.” 

She added that she also had to give up learning how to play the guitar.

Tanisha hopes to become a marine biologist or a veterinarian in the future. She said that with the money from the fund, she is able to not only “live freely” as a student but also relieve her mother of some of the financial burden as well.

The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.