The Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) has reaffirmed that it is determined to keep its continuing education subsidy scheme under strict control.
According to a statement by the bureau on Monday, as several defendants have recently been sentenced for offences that had taken place between 2016 and 2018 involving a private education centre that defrauded the government’s continuing education subsidy, it will continue to cooperate with the Judiciary Police (PJ) in “eliminating” any illegal activities or violations concerning the subsidy scheme, in order to ensure correct public spending.
The statement reminded the public that the organisations that participate in the scheme must strictly follow the regulations for student registrations and signing in and out of lessons. If the organisations fail to comply with the regulations, the statement said, they might be fined, be excluded from the scheme, and even face legal consequences.
The bureau also said in the statement that it would continue to monitor the organisations’ performance during their lessons, in order to identify and follow up on any abnormal situations as soon as possible.
In addition, the statement said that residents should also comply with the regulations by providing their correct personal information during their course enrolment, and should not sign in others’ attendance. The statement also urged residents to plan well before applying for any courses to avoid wasting the subsidy.
The statement said since the launch of the fourth phase of the continuing education subsidy scheme in 2020, which entitles residents aged at least 15 to get a 6,000-pataca subsidy to enrol in courses run by the city’s various continuing education institutions until the end of August 2023, the bureau has been adopting various methods such as spot checks, data analyses and surveillance platforms to oversee the scheme.
According to the statement, from the start of the current phase DSEDJ officials have paid 5,000 visits to the institutions benefitting from the scheme. The statement also said thanks to its own monitoring of the relevant documents and 150 opinions sent by residents to its surveillance platform, the bureau discovered dozens of violations, most of which involved failing to organise the course according to the approved conditions. The statement underlined, however, that suspected fraud cases had drastically declined, while only one of the cases has been transferred to the Judiciary Police.
The statement also said that the bureau won’t tolerate any violations and illegal activities, and it vowed to continue its surveillance of the scheme. The statement also urged organisations and local residents to abide by the law, and should any violations be suspected, he or she could contact the bureau by phone on 2842 5199 or email pdac@dsedj.gov.mo; or report their suspicions through the surveillance platform or directly in person at the bureau. Any suspected criminal offence, the statement underlined, will be passed by the bureau to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).
