Education Ministry to study feasibility of suspending PTPTN repayment for those earning below RM4,000

Dr Maszlee Malik. -filepic

The Education Ministry is still finding out ways to implement its pledge to suspend the repayment of National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans for those earning below RM4,000 monthly.

Its Minister Dr Maszlee Malik (pic) said that the Pakatan Harapan government is committed to fulfil its election pledge within its 100 days of taking over from the previous administration.

"On the suspension of repayment of PTPTN, we are still studying it and committed to implement it. At the moment, studies are still ongoing," he replied to a supplementary question from Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) during Question Time.

As part of the Pakatan's election manifesto, the government pledged to allow fresh graduates, who earn less than RM4,000, to delay settling their loans.

Khairy had asked the Education Ministry to state whether it has conducted any projection studies on how long a fresh graduate will take to reach a basic income of RM4,000 and the economic impact to the government if the pledge is implemented.

Dr Maszlee said that the government had already fulfilled its other pledge to lift the travel ban on PTPTN defaulters.

"For that part, we already lifted the blacklist orders on defaulters," he said.

On the efforts to improve student's proficiency in the English language, the Education Minister said it has various highly intensive programmes and its outreach initiative for students to improve in that subject.

"Other plans include deploying experienced English teachers to rural areas and the ongoing retraining of English teachers," he said.

To the initial question, Dr Maszlee said that the Ministry will set up a special committee to review the national education policy, in line with the Cabinet decision on June 6.

"The committee will comprise of representatives from top academics, politicians, religious leaders, and non-governmental organisations, that will look into the reviewing the philosophy and the national policy including to improve the education system from the pre-school to the higher education level," he said.