PETALING JAYA: The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) supports the move for school canteens to go cashless in the future, saying it will be easier for parents to monitor their children’s expenses.
However, PAGE chairman Noor Azimah Rahim suggested that the recess time be extended as payment using debit cards may require more time.
“That is the disadvantage of using a cashless payment system as you need to input your PIN, and it might take a while for the payment to be settled.
“So it requires a longer time, which means that recess time also needs to be longer.
“The average recess time (30 minutes) is quite short for that,” she told FMT.
She was commenting on Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid’s announcement that school canteens may soon go cashless if a pilot project using debit cards is successful.
“The cashless payment system is being tested in a few residential schools.
“We suggest this be tested in school co-operatives first,” he had said.
Azimah said it would be a good system as parents could control their children’s expenses.
It would also prevent children from misplacing or losing their pocket money, she said.
“It is good as many countries are already doing this and it shows that we are moving forward as well.
“But we are wondering who will pay for the system as there must be some cost in setting it up.
“We hope the ministry will absorb the cost and not pass it to students later.”