At a press conference with her deputy Lim Hui Ying, Fadhlina said the council would give its ideas and views as the ministry sets the direction for the national education system.

“This includes continuity after the Malaysian Education Blueprint, which will end in 2025,” she said, adding that the Education Act 1996 provides for the establishment of the council.

In 2018, then education minister Maszlee Malik had appointed 11 people to the council for the 2018-2020 session, chaired by former education director-general Wan Zahid Noordin, who was deputised by Yong Poh Kon.

Others appointed included Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Rahim, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) specialist Boonler Somchit and Khazanah Nasional Bhd education adviser Satinah Syed Saleh.

Fadhlina also said the ministry would focus on seven key areas, which includes reducing the number of dropouts, improving teachers’ welfare, upgrading dilapidated schools and tackling the urban-rural education gap.

Meanwhile, education ministry secretary-general Yusran Shah Yusof said Putrajaya would proceed with the previous government’s decision to increase the rates for the supplementary food programme (RMT) to RM3.50 for students in the Peninsula and RM4 for those in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan.

Previously, the RMT rates were RM2.50 for students in Peninsular Malaysia and RM3 for those in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan.

Yusran added that the ministry would study the short-lived free breakfast programme which was introduced by Maszlee in 2020.

He said the ministry needed to ensure the government had sufficient allocations for the programme to be reintroduced.