PTPTN burden affects marriage chances for women too, says PSM’s Jeyakumar

 

Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj says it takes a long time for young graduates to repay loans ranging from RM60,000 to RM150,000.

PETALING JAYA: The huge National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans may have inadvertently affected the chances of women getting married, according to Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chief Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj.

He said that besides the borrowers having to endure an unusually long repayment period because of the middle-income trap they are in, they enter society after graduating with huge loans on their head with jobs hard to come by.

Jeyakumar, the former Sungai Siput MP, said this was common among the paramedical graduates like nurses, physiotherapists and radiographers, which is seeing a glut because of over supply over the last decade caused by poor manpower planning and “corporate influence”.

“Our male-dominated society apparently finds it hard to accept a woman as a bride if they come with a RM60,000 to RM150,000 lifelong burden on their head by way of a PTPTN loan. This should not happen,” he told FMT.

Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj.

Jeyakumar said thousands of these graduates cannot find employment or are grossly underemployed, adding that many trained as staff nurses, radiographers and physiotherapists under a three-year diploma programme are forced to work as clinic or aide nurses in the private sector.

Many others have been forced to work in the Middle East, leaving their families behind and causing domestic issues in some instances.

He attributed this to the “corporate capture” of the Malaysian private sector education over institutions during the last few decades, which saw the regulators giving away quotas for students in this sector because of their connection with the heads, many of whom were former senior civil servants.

“By getting the huge quotas, these institutions were assured of the PTPTN funds coming directly into their coffers for years, since the Malaysian Qualifications Agency approves the courses and the students sign up in good faith thinking that the nation needs them,” he said.

However, the situation is bad today with no proper jobs for these graduates resulting in them facing problems in repaying the loans while PTPTN is saddled with debts totalling about RM30 billion, which it is finding hard to collect.

Jeyakumar said there was a dire need to overhaul the entire PTPTN system not only to resolve the issue but also come up with a way to help the hundreds of thousands of young Malaysians whose lives have been adversely affected by the loans.

“The government created this problem, inadvertently or otherwise, so it is its duty to resolve this, and the sooner the better,” he said. - FMT