PKR: Nearly all uni students will get RM5000 yearly

RM2.5 billion a year will be used to give RM5,000 to half a million students (all of the public university students and most of the private university students) per year said PKR Strategic Director Rafizi Ramli.

He was speaking at a forum on the National Higher Education Loan (PTPTN) scheme involving student activist groups Mahasiswa Independen (KAMI) and Aksi Mahasiswa Peduli (AKSI) at Shah Alam yesterday.

The meet was open to university students and members of the public.

The purpose was to explain the policies behind PKR's proposal to abolish the PTPN and offer free education.

Rafizi said that the current situation is not sustainable.

Currently, RM24 billion is owed to PTPN and the debts would eventually have to be bailed out by the government.

"However, specifics of the plan cannot be disclosed because there are no countries in which the opposition has all the details," he said.

"The structure of the education system must be destroyed and rebuilt, and the debt should be repaid in10 years at a sum of RM2 billion a year."

He added that RM2.5 billion a year will be used to give RM5,000 to half a million students (all of the public university students and most of the private university students) per year.

"The government already spends about RM14 billion a year on university education.

"That sum is enough to repay the debts, abolish PTPN and give RM5,000 to university students per year which will be enough to cover accommodation, food, textbooks, and transportation, since education will already be free."

He added that removing student debts will aid the economy, because it could not always depend on exports.

"Two hundred thousand students with debts and no spending power will not expand the economy."

Two systems
He added that Pakatan will introduce two systems of entry into higher education:

(1) Normal way of entering university after SPM/STPM
(2) Apprenticeship system.

Employers will be licensed to accept apprentices who will have the opportunity to move on to acquire a diploma.

After that, they may choose to enter a university. This is to help students who don't do well in SPM but who want to further their studies later on.

Of the 10 universities to be built if Pakatan takes over, five will be technical universities.

"Students should enter private universities out of choice, not because they are forced to do so because there is no space in public universities," he said.