Give more places to Indian students at public varsities, says lecturer

If there are 100 places available, give the best of students 10 places, based on merit, urges UM professor.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian community is appealing to the government to provide more places for Indian students in public universities.

Universiti Malaya Indian Studies lecturer Prof M Rajantheran said the quota system in public universities had hampered the educational advancement of the Indian community.

“We would like the government to reconsider and give Indian students some space in the public universities.

“If there are 100 places available, give the best of our students 10 places, based on merit,” he said at a National Transformation 2050 (TN50) programme forum with Indian youths at Universiti Malaya here today.

Rajantheran pointed out that Indian students had strived to get the best results but when they could not enter the public universities or were forced to study something they did not have passion for, it would make them fall further behind.

“This will lead to a society with jobless people with low self-esteem, as their dream to be a doctor or lawyer is shattered,” he said.

Makkal Sakti president RS Thanenthiran concurred with the views, saying that failing to get into a public university despite getting (a CGPA of) 4.00 would only demotivate the students.

“Many of our Indian youths come from poor families and they do not have the money to study at private universities.

“If they cannot be given a spot, maybe the government could help by providing more scholarships,” he said, adding that he himself had written many letters to universities to appeal.

Some 250 Indian youths attended the TN50 engagement session and this was the first time such a session was conducted in Tamil.

TN50 is an initiative to plan for the future of Malaysia from 2020 to 2050 launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak early this year. - FMT