MAJLIS Amanah Rakyat (MARA) chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has slammed the action of several people who manipulate their incomes and claim that they are in the B40 category to secure a spot for their children at the Mara Junior Science College (MRSM).
According to Asyraf, such actions adversely affect genuinely impoverished students as their rights to attend MRSM have been “hijacked”.
“Don’t falsify your incomes just so you could be classified as B40 to secure your child’s admission to MRSMs. It’s a pity that some children are not blessed in their studies as they had unfairly gained the rights to do so in the expense of other less fortunate individuals,” he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Dec 20).
In a separate post, Asyraf elaborated the cost of a student attending the MRSM is RM18,000 annually.
He said the aim of establishing MRSMs is to aid impoverished students as well as those residing in rural areas to obtain the best education, which is fully paid for by MARA.
“The current MARA policy stipulates that 60% of MRSM students must come from the B40 group while the rest are candidates who pass the Ujian Kecenderungan Kemasukan MRSM (UKKM) from the M40 and T20 groups,” he further stated.
The UKKM are the entry tests that would evaluate the students’ interests and aptitude to further their studies in MRSMs.
“(With some people falsifying their incomes) is it high time for students from the T20 group who want to benefit from studying in the MRSM ecosystem to bear the full (tuition fee) that has been borne by MARA?” Asyraf questioned. – Dec 20, 2023
Main pic credit: Kosmo Digital