Matriculation: Hundreds of Indian students denied entry

A DAP senator wants to know why these students are not given a place, and claims that the civil service is not bothered about Najib's promises to the Indian community.

GEORGE TOWN: Putrajaya must explain why hundreds of Indian students have been denied entry into matriculation colleges despite having required good examination results.

Senator S Ramakrishnan recalled that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced in February that 1,500 matriculation places were reserved for Indian students this year.

But he said government statistics revealed that only some 700 students were admitted, leaving another 800 seats vacant.

He also said applications made by over 400 Indian students with more than 7A’s had been rejected.

Ramakrishnan said the prime minister must fulfill his promise to the Indian community for them to have “nambikkai” (trust) on him and Barisan Nasional.

“Najib must walk his talk. He must clarify,” he added.

The DAP leader said the episode further proved that the civil service was not bothered about Najib’s promises to the Indian community.

“The civil service has its own Umno agenda. Is this what 1Malaysia is all about?” he asked.

He said that matriculation programmes were tailored to feed various courses in local universities and students who do well would move on to selected tertiary institutions.

He said alternatively students could enter local public universities by scoring high marks for STPM.

Ramakrishnan said for the local universities selection unit, an A in matriculation was considered equal to an A in STPM.

Therefore, he said a student with 4As in matriculation was the same as scoring 4As in STPM.

He also noted that matriculation students had an advantage and head start over STPM students.

He said STPM was just one public examination for final marks but matriculation courses consisted of assignments, tests, quizzes and final examinations making up the marks.

He said matriculation students were already in selected programmes in the local universities while STPM students would not get the course they applied for.

Why the double standard?

“It is apple against orange. It is not comparable and not the same level playing field. By restricting Indian students in matriculation programmes, the BN government is diverting them to take STPM.

“Why the double standard?” rebuked the senator.

Students who were unsuccessful in their application to matriculation colleges despite scoring more than 7As in the SPM examination in 2011 were told to appeal to the ministry.

Ramakrishnan said many Indian students had sought MIC’s help to secure a place in matriculation colleges.

He called on the ministry to publicly disclose the number of re-applications from Indian students received and approved to enter matriculation colleges.

“Or else, the Indian community will assume that the appeals have been all dismissed,” he said.