KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 -- The government has been urged to look into the predicament of students studying in private higher education institutions (IPTS) in Budget 2021 which would be tabled in Parliament this Friday especially to go through the difficult period following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Association of Bumiputra Private Higher Education Institutions Malaysia (PKIBM) president Amir Hamzah Md Isa said IPTS students and managements are facing various issues especially in the new normal learning during the pandemic which entered the third wave.

 “The budget should be inclusive and sustainable as more than 51 per cent of the 1.3 million students in the higher education ecosystem are in 443 IPTS nationwide.

“The private higher education sector has been recognised as a national strategic industry contributing RM31.5 billion to the revenue and economy of the country while IPTS provides access to more than 600,000 places in higher education without depending on government funds,” he said in a statement today.

At the same time, Amir Hamzah hoped the government would help ease the financial pressure faced in the past several months.

“Since March, all Bumiputra IPTS have suffered up to 60 per cent fall in their new student intake compared to the same period in the earlier years.

“The pandemic had dealt a blow to socio-economy of the people and many families in the B40 group are now more cautious about spending money on their children’s higher education,” he said.

He also called on the government to continue the facilities of the Mudah Jaya Financing Scheme (SPiM) through the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) offered by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) as the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to go on for quite sometime.

“We are proposing that SPiM PENJANA be expanded to a maximum of RM5 million for each eligible Bumiputra IPTS while those which did not apply earlier and are in need of additional financing could submit their applications,” he said.

-- BERNAMA