The state government is tightening procedures for the awarding of scholarships as some students submit unverified pay slips and give erroneous details.

This decision was made at an evaluation meeting attended by school principals and education department heads in Johor on Monday.

Each year, the state government allocates an average of RM1mil (S$410,000) for poor students in secondary schools. Each eligible student gets between RM420 (S$172.20) to RM1,000 (S$410)a year.

State entrepreneur, cooperative development and higher education committee chairman Datuk Maulizan Bujang said: "Not everyone is genuine; this issue crops up when people attempt to cheat the system to get scholarships."

"If we find a student has cheated, we will immediately withdraw the scholarship."

He said scholarships were discontinued when parents' salaries total more than RM1,000.

Maulizan said, this year, about 2,497 students had received scholarships worth more than RM1.1mil.

When contacted, Johor Education Department director Sufaat Tumin said teachers who enter unverified information into the database were not at fault as students were the ones trying to cheat the system to get scholarships they did not deserve.

It is understood that many of the parents don't have proper pay slips and get village heads or community leaders to verify their incomes.

Sufaat said schools had been advised to be more vigilant when processing scholarship applications.

"We will also ensure that all pay slips provided will have proper verification," he said.