3 200 Places For Indian Chinese Students For Matriculation A One Off Last Year

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SPM students who have not received offer letters to do matriculation can appeal to the education ministry. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: The education ministry has clarified that the 2,200 places for Indian students and 1,000 places for Chinese in the matriculation programme last year was a “one-off” initiative
This was based on the needs then and the available slots from the Bumiputera quota which were not filled
In a statement today, the ministry said for 2019, the matriculation programme quota will continue to be based on a 90:10 basis, with 90% of places going to Bumiputera students and 10% for non-Bumiputeras, based on meritocracy
The ministry said for 2019, 60% of the places will be given to those from the bottom 40 (B40) income bracket, with the remaining 40% given to the middle 40 (M40) and top 20 (T20)
The implementation of this new policy is more balanced, in line with the government’s plan to empower the lower-income group, the ministry said
Yesterday, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy had complained that many bright non-Malay students were not getting the opportunity to undergo the matriculation programme this year
The ministry said the original aim of the matriculation programme was to develop the potential of Bumiputera students in the science, technology and professional fields through quality pre-university education
The students will be selected based on the results of four Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) subjects and the particular interests of applicants, whether in science, accounting or engineering
“If a student gets 10As in SPM, the selection will still be based solely on four specific subjects.”The ministry said students’ co-curricular activities will amount to 10% of the marks and 90% will be based on their academic achievements
The ministry said students who had not received an offer to pursue the matriculation programme were encouraged to submit an appeal to the ministry by the end of this month. - FMT

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