PUTRAJAYA, Feb 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today he hopes that more well-off parents would give their share of the RM150 Early Schooling Aid (BAP) to the families who need it more.

The finance minister had listed the new BAP scheme as part of the benefits reaped from reforms undertaken to reduce leakage and improve governance under his administration.

"We hope the really rich people would supposedly give it to others,” he said in his speech at the Ministry of Finance assembly this morning.

The government began distributing the RM150 cash aid to students in January to prepare for the upcoming school term in March this year.

The cash aid would be given to all students from primary and secondary schools, unlike the previous scheme which targeted children from households with an income less than RM3,000, he said.

The prime minister also revealed that the procedures to give BAP to a targeted group were too bureaucratic.

On Friday, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek addressed complaints of parents only receiving RM50 of BAP and urged them to lodge a report to the ministry if the cash aid was not given in its full amount.

The education minister said this initiative was meant to ease the burden of parents preparing their children for the upcoming school term.

Almost RM800 million was allocated by the government for BAP.

A total of 5.5 million students nationwide will benefit from it.