KUCHING: Some 11,095 Sarawakian graduates have benefitted from Yayasan Sarawak's National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayment incentive since 2019, says Datuk Roland Sagah.
The state Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister said the incentive amounted to RM36.1mil since it was introduced.
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"Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia to provide such an incentive. A further RM30mil has been approved for this incentive next year," he told the Sarawak Legislative Assembly when winding up matters related to his ministry on Tuesday (Nov 29).
Sagah said the 30:30 incentive was part of the state government's efforts to help ease the burden of Sarawak graduates in repaying their PTPTN study loans.
Under the scheme, the state government will subsidise 30% of the balance for graduates who have already paid at least 30% of their loans.
For example, he said a graduate with a loan of RM10,000 must have repaid at least RM3,000 to be eligible for the scheme.
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"With this, he is eligible for a 30% incentive on the balance of RM7,000, amounting to RM2,100.
"Therefore, the graduate's remaining loan balance will be RM4,900," Sagah said, adding that the scheme encouraged graduates to fulfil their loan repayment obligations.
Sagah also said the first Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School (YSISS) at Petra Jaya here began operations on April 4 with an initial cohort of 115 students from around the state.
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"Once fully developed, the campus will have a capacity of 500 students from Years Seven to 11, which is equivalent to Forms One to Five," he said.
He added that the construction of YSISS Kuching at Mile 12 Kuching-Serian Road was scheduled for completion in the third quarter of next year, while construction of YSISS Sibu was scheduled to start early next year.
"Both YSISS Bintulu and Miri are currently in the planning stage," he said.
