KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The National Permata Programme that was the brainchild of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has now been rebranded as “Genius”, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said today.
Berita Harian reported Maszlee saying that the Cabinet had decided on the rebranding the child development programme to make it more competitive and highly motivated.
“Though the functions and role remains the same, there are several programmes under it that will be enhanced in terms of quality,” he said after an event in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.
After Pakatan Harapan took over the government last May, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the new administration would not pull the plug on Permata, but would audit and review the programme.
The Pemata programme was previously helmed by Rosmah, the wife to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The programme was started nearly a decade ago after Najib then took office.
However the previous Barisan Nasional administration had claimed that Rosmah was not involved in Permata’s day-to-day operations.
In 2015, then minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said as patron of the programme, Rosmah does not handle any administrative, financial or managerial matters, as well as other functions that come under the purview of the civil service.
