Guarantee First Choice Placement For Top Stpm Students Mohe Told

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THE Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) has called for the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) to implement substantive higher education reforms and correct the systemic bias between STPM and Matriculation pathways, starting by automatically granting first-choice university and course placement to STPM students with a perfect CGPA of 4.0.
Its national publicity secretary Ho Chi Yang was responding to Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir’s announcement on July 17 that all pre-university pathways will be transferred from the Education Ministry to MOHE.
“However, the announcement made no mention of structural reforms to improve fairness or quality within the system,” the Tanah Rata state assemblyman lamented.
“Without real change, this move risks being purely cosmetic—form over substance. Malaysia urgently needs a fairer and more transparent higher education system.

“At present, systemic imbalances between STPM and Matriculation pathways put STPM students at a distinct disadvantage, making it more challenging for high-achieving STPM students to gain admission to their preferred top public universities and courses.”
Ho said despite STPM’s internationally-recognised academic rigor, its students often face systemic disadvantages and greater hurdles compared to Matriculation students in terms of acceptance rates, course allocation, extracurricular scoring and study duration.
These imbalances, he added, undermine STPM’s appeal and cause many top students to miss out on competitive university placements.
“Since being elected as DAPSY national chief, Woo Kah Leong has led the youth wing in pushing for four key policy reforms, one of which is to push for implementing a unified university admissions system to build an equitable higher education system based on meritocracy and needs,” he remarked.
“In line with this vision, DAPSY urges MOHE to take the first bold and crucial step towards higher education reform, by guaranteeing STPM students who achieve a perfect CGPA of 4.0 their first-choice university and course.
“This reform will restore confidence among all students that hard work and excellence demonstrated by STPM students will be rewarded and recognised by our institutions.” ‒  Focus Malaysia

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