Base Scholarships on Family Income First and Merit Second

We have students from well-to-do families getting scholarships. They would have been able to further their studies regardless of whether they get scholarships. I am pretty sure their parents could afford their education.
Benjamin Lee

I applaud the government’s recent decision to award bursaries for SPM high achievers to pursue pre-university courses instead of giving them full scholarships right away.

However, I would like to stress that a sizeable number of high achievers come from well-to-do families. I believe that awarding scholarships to these people is not fair to those from lower income families. Those from well-to-do families usually enjoy the benefits of receiving private tuition which would not be available to their less fortunate counterparts. Furthermore, they tend to have well-educated parents which emphasize on education. Hence it is no surprise that academic results correlate with family’s socioeconomic status. One student may perform better than the other solely due to higher family income even though they may have the same academic ability. 

We have students from well-to-do families getting scholarships. They would have been able to further their studies regardless of whether they get scholarships. I am pretty sure their parents could afford their education. Therefore, I would like to suggest that scholarships or bursaries be awarded based on family’s income first and merit second. For example, those whose parents jointly earn more than, say, RM120,000 of annual taxable income on average for the past five years should be totally disqualified from receiving scholarships or bursaries. Meanwhile, those whose parents jointly earn between, say, RM60,000 and RM120,000 of annual taxable income may be eligible for partial scholarships, that is, parents have to pay for the students’ living expenses and/or part of the tuition fees. The exact amount awarded is to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Finally, those whose parents jointly earn less than RM60,000 of annual taxable income are eligible for full scholarships. After students are categorized into the respective categories of family’s income, only then their merits are taken into account. 

While no system is perfect, I believe such an income-based scholarship system would be fairer and better for the development of human capital.