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For the sake of higher education
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Monday, 01 February 2010 13:47
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ALOR SETAR - The government should place higher priority in increasing the budget for loans to deserving Malaysian students giving them an opportunity to pursue higher education.
Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang has called for a bigger govenrment allocation to the The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).
Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin had earlier said that the PTPTN required RM5 billion a year to ensure those qualified to pursue higher education are not deprived of the opportunity.
The current allocation of RM3 billion a year by the federal government was seen as insufficient by the year 2013 as the number of students pursuing higher education increased.
Students with merits
"Higher education is the backbone for human capital development in our country," said Tan in a press statement.
On the minister's call upon well-to-do parents to take responsibility in financing their children's education and not to rely on the government, Tan said:
"It would be unfortunate if those students with merits are taken away from their opportunity to pursue higher education due to the poor definition of 'well-to-do' parents.
"Instead, I would call upon the government to increase the allocation to PTPTN when the fund for disbursement of the PTPTN loan is insufficient."
Tan added that the PTPTN loans are subject to repayment by all the students upon their graduation (unless they have obtained 1st class degrees). The PTPTN loans are unlike "scholarships" which are not subject to repayment.
Financial condition
He said scholarships should be given based on merits and the financial position of the parents but
"not feasible for PTPTN to consider its grant of loan based on parent's financial condition."
His reason was that there could be instances where "well-to-do" parents refuse to finance their children's education as they may not place their child's education as priority.
There could also be a situation whereby those "well-to-do" parents have a large number of children and it is beyond their means to finance every single child in the family, he said.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 February 2010 07:21 |
