KUDAT, Oct 18 — Ensuring that poverty does not determine the fate of Sabah’s children or stand in the way of their progress has become a personal mission and commitment for Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
He said this resolve is rooted in his own life experiences: growing up in poverty, losing his father at a young age, working as a fisherman and a farmer and watching his mother struggle to raise him.
In an emotional account, he recalled how his mother had to borrow RM15 from relatives to pay for his Lower Certificate of Education (LCE) examination fees in 1971, as she wanted to give him a chance to break free from the cycle of poverty through education.
“Parents today face the same challenges in raising their children and providing them with an education. That is why I have firmly resolved to ensure poverty does not determine the fate of our children. Education is what can lift our children out of poverty.
