COVID-19 has dried up work and income, hitting underprivileged families the hardest. It was reported that 3 in 5 Malaysians have lost their jobs and those who are still working have lost 90% of their income since the COVID-19 wave hit Malaysia. Underprivileged families are already in financial disadvantage and do not have a stable income, thus worsening the poverty and hunger issues in Malaysia.

Going back to school soon in January 2021 is going to be challenging and stressful for so many underprivileged families. As most heads of household’s income is stagnant, they will reduce their children’s education expenses to survive , resulting in difficulties to prepare their kids for school. On an average, back to school expenses will cost parents around RM 800 per child (FOMCA 2018) and with COVID-19, there are added additional expenses such as face masks and other precautions because of the safety requirements.

What’s worrying is that the number of underprivileged students in KL dropping out of school is rising at an alarming rate. UNICEF’s Families on Edge October reported that nearly 1 in 5 parents said that their children have lost interest in school, and the incidence is higher among children from female-headed households (1 in 4). This was driven by prolonged school closure and difficulties in meeting the cost associated with school attendance.

To tackle this issue, Charity Right Malaysia is partnering with Alliance Islamic Bank Malaysia (SocioBiz) to  launch the “Back To School” campaign and raise RM 260,000. Our goal is to support 350 underprivileged families from 7 schools in Kuala Lumpur, Perlis, and Kedah for 5 months . All of our beneficiaries are from Asnaf category of B40 families who suffer from poverty, on top of those who were barely making enough to survive during this pandemic.

Together, this partnership aims to provide each family with some school supplies and a food box which contains rice, cooking oil, flour, milk and other basic food. This will ease their burden to put food on the table while making sure the children stay in school and feel motivated to continue their education. In the long run, we will empower these low income families under our sustainable program, “Feed to Educate” so they can support themselves and climb out from poverty.

The Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever helps ease one in difficulty, Allah will make it easy for him in this world and in the Hereafter. Whoever conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah helps the servant as long as he helps his brother. [Muslim]