YONG PENG: At least 214 straight-A students have reached out to MCA after failing to secure a spot in matriculation following an abrupt change to the entry requirements.
Party president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said that as of 10pm on Saturday (May 30), MCA had received matriculation-related complaints from 394 disappointed students.
"Out of the cases we received, 214 of them are mostly students who scored straight As in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), but had one or two A-.
"They were supposed to be eligible for the programme, but suddenly the Education Ministry changed the requirement and A- is no longer considered 'cemerlang' (excellent).
“There were also cases where the students have even fulfilled the new requirement after getting straight A’s consisting of A+ and A only, but still did not get a spot in matriculation,” he said.
He said this in a press conference after officiating the Ayer Hitam MCA general assembly here.
Dr Wee also pointed out that these were just cases MCA has received, and the number of students facing the same plight is a lot higher.
"Last year, we also raised the matriculation issue after the Prime Minister said that only those with 10As can enter the programme.
"There are students who only took nine subjects. How are they supposed to get 10 As?" he said, adding that the government has yet to respond to the matter.
In a video on Friday (May 30), Dr Wee said that the Education Ministry had released a circular on April 30 stating that only students with 10As comprising A+ and A in all subjects would be given an automatic offer to enrol in the matriculation programme for the 2025/2026 session.
Dr Wee pointed out that this move, which was confirmed by Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh on Facebook, was a significant shift from the government’s policy last year when students with 10As in SPM were allocated a place in matriculation.
In June last year, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that all SPM students, regardless of background, who scored 10As and above, would be given a place in the matriculation programme.
