By Tan Dawn Wei

Students will continue to top Malay self-help group Mendaki's priority list as it prepares to spend more on keeping kids in school.

Last year, its expenditure on education and youth was $7 million, up from $6 million the year before, with more getting help with tuition, subsidies and scholarships.

And the cost will go up, with applications for its various education programmes for the first five months of this year already exceeding all of last year's.

The numbers were given out at a media briefing at Mendaki's headquarters in Upper East Coast Road, after its 20th annual general meeting yesterday.

'We have worked very hard to ensure whatever services we have been offering continue to be offered and expanding some services to ensure no one falls through the cracks,' said Mendaki's chairman, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.

That includes giving out close to $600,000 in subsidies to 3,540 pre-school, primary and secondary students last year under its Education Trust Fund scheme, an increase of 12 per cent from the year before. It also revised the eligibility criteria for fee waivers of its educational programmes, raising the monthly household income limit from $1,000 to $1,800.

Its report card for last year also showed a $1.1 million loss from an investment in a UBS global fund.

Earnings from it were channelled to the Education Trust Fund, which was launched in 2003.

Dr Yaacob said there was an option to hold on to the investment but the fund's custodians decided to cut losses.

Even so, the investment gains made have helped offset the losses, and the capital has been preserved, he said.

He stressed that the fund is not bankrolled by Central Provident Fund contributions made by Muslim employees every month to Mendaki.

It was raised through Malay Members of Parliament, grassroots leaders and other donors.

'This is not material to the performance of Mendaki. This does not have any impact on Mendaki's reserves or money we collect every month from the CPF check-off. Therefore, whether this fund survives or not will not have an impact on Mendaki,' he said.

Mendaki's chief executive officer, Ms Zuraidah Abdullah, said it has been able to extend subsidies beyond pre-schoolers to upper secondary students because the investment has been paying off over the years.

Other than education, the group is also reaching out to job-seekers.

Since June 1, it has been operating a second service centre in Woodlands Community Club under its training subsidiary, catering to those living in the north.

A quarter of job-seekers from its database reside there.

The centre dispenses advice to job-seekers and conducts training classes.

Last year, Mendaki helped find work for 54 per cent of the 1,792 people who approached it for help.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.