Mara to use private funding for paid MRSM schools - Zahid

 

PARLIAMENT | The proposal to establish paid Mara Science Junior College (MRSM) schools will not involve government funds, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid, who is also rural and regional development minister, said that the ministry would instead use a private funding initiative and collaborate with financial institutions.

He also assured that the fee-paying MRSM schools will not be built on Mara land, which is reserved for projects meant to benefit the poor.

He was responding to a question today from Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Pakatan Harapan-Muar) who had asked for the process and source of funding to build paid MRSM schools as well as the student selection process.

Meanwhile, Zahid told the Dewan Rakyat that a feasibility study had revealed that many academically qualified students wanted to enter MRSMs.

“But they are unable to do so due to their parents’ income brackets - especially the T20 and M40 groups.

“This is because priority is given to the B40 income group,” he said.

Asked if the government will work on reducing “hidden costs” borne by B40 students in MRSM schools, Zahid said that he would work with individual MRSM schools to reduce the financial burden on the students.

Mara chairperson Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki recently proposed to establish a paid MRSM for the high-income earning elite group of society.

He added that the higher-income groups were willing to bear the costs.

However, this was opposed by PSM Youth, which claimed that the suggestion contradicted Mara's vision and mission.

It said that a paid MRSM will only further widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and pave the way for reduced allocations for MRSM, and open it for privatisation. - Mkini