The moratorium begins this month, Bernama reported.

She said the move is to enable lower prices of food sold to students in view of the rise in prices of goods.

“In order to strengthen food price control and focus on the welfare of UTeM (Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka) students, most of whom are in the B40 group, we have also implemented a system of providing food assistance to B40 students.”

Noraini also announced a quality food menu at a ceiling price of RM3.50 for each order under the Keluarga Malaysia student food basket initiative in line with the announcement by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail said the government would be introducing the Keluarga Malaysia menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner meals at a reasonable cost at cooperative restaurants, cafeterias and campus food outlets.

UTeM also said it had introduced the Keluarga UTeM menu to control food and beverage prices on campus. Vice-chancellor Massila Kamalrudin said the menu featured set meals at RM3 and RM4.

Noraini said the ministry also agreed with a proposal for a committee chaired by her to look into student welfare and monitor price control of goods and services.

She said transport facilities for students to travel in and out of campus would also be improved with a more frequent schedule.