KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced today the expansion of its e-Pengeluaran scheme to include education withdrawals.

In a statement today, the EPF said the scheme, which was previously limited to housing withdrawals, had expanded to allow members to fund their own or children's education at local higher learning institutions by withdrawing from their EPF savings.

The EPF deputy chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Naim Daruwish said in the statement that e-Pengeluaran "is one of EPF's breakthrough services to enable members with i-Akaun to submit their withdrawal applications anytime, anywhere".

"We are working towards having more institutions and banks participate in e-Pengeluaran in order for more members to experience the benefit of withdrawal at their fingertips from this online facility," Mohd Naim said.

Currently, 10 higher learning institutions are being assessed for integration with e-Pengeluaran, of which three, namely International Islamic University Malaysia, Multimedia University and Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional, have been confirmed, according to the EPF.

e-Pengeluaran, introduced in 2013, has been enhanced with more participating financial institutions. The EPF said these comprised AmBank, RHB, Maybank, Bank Islam, OCBC, Bank Simpanan Nasional, and United Overseas Bank.