NIBONG TEBAL, Aug 10 — The Education Ministry is fine tunning the mechanism which will be the special model to determine the criteria on the location for the construction of pioneer special schools for hardcore poor families.

Its minister, Fadhlina Sidek said the special model focuses on issues closely related to poverty, channeling of aid, and support for the school ecosystem before selecting the construction at strategic locations.

"The special model is about difficulty to access education for poor students,” she told the media after mingling with students of Malaysian National Character Building Programme for Post Secondary Students at Dewan Dato' Haji Ahmad Salleh.

She also said the criteria for the special model will be fine-tuned and reviewed by the committee at MOE which will be set up later.

On Sunday, she was reported as saying her ministry was trying to realise the intention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to build a new school targeting children from the hardcore group in the country next year.

Besides, Fadhlina said the National Character Building Programme is an important initiative in building morals based on Good and Smart Children (ABC) in producing a generation of intelligent people with good character.

She said the programme was implemented over four series involving participants consisting of Form Six students, teacher education institutions, matriculation colleges and vocational colleges in 2023 in the states of Selangor, Kedah and Penang.

"In Penang, approximately 700 students attended and the response was very good and we will continue the programme from time to time, especially for our high school graduates," she said. — Bernama