Confusion over matriculation seats for Indian students

Two NGOs want a clarification on matriculation seat allocation for Indian students after promises of extra seats by the Prime Minister and his deputy.

PETALING JAYA: It is anybody’s guess just how many matriculation seats are reserved for Indians. The latest count says that they will be given an extra 1,555 seats in addition to last years’ allocation of 539 seats.

But two Indian NGOs – National Indian Action Team (Niat) and Malaysian Indian Education Transformation Association (Mieta) – said Indian students should not be treated like puppets on a string.

They want the Education Ministry to clear the air on how many matriculation seats are available for Indian students

“We want the ministry’s clarification. Don’t play with children’s education. Politicians from across the divide aren’t supposed to be knocking around children’s education.

“Let educationists deal with it professionally,” said Niat president Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim at a press conference in Putrajaya after handing over a memorandum to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister’s office.

The uncertainty on the number of seats first surfaced when Najib Tun Razak announced an additional 1,000 seats for Indian students at a Ponggal festival in February.

Last year only 539 matriculation seats were offered to Indians students.

Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Senator G Palanivel announced that 1,500 matriculation seats would be filled by Indian students.

And to add more confusion, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister, made a one-off offer of 557 seats on Monday.

In the memorandum, Niat and Mieta raised several issues. The two NGOs wanted to know whether 1,555 seats would also be offered in the future.

They also wanted a clarification on the one-off offer made by Muhyiddin. The two NGOs also wanted to know the government’s policy on matriculation.

“What are the total number of seats?What is the government’s policy for Indian students’ matriculation enrolment?”, the NGOs queried in the memorandum.

The matriculation intake starts in May, June and July.