KUCHING – The Sarawak government has allocated RM30 million to assist its students in repaying their education loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), making it the only state with such an initiative.
Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg said the initiative provides a solution to the hardships of Sarawakian students’ in Peninsular Malaysia, which were aired during a dialogue session at the Lan Berambeh Anak Sarawak programme in Kuala Lumpur in October 2019.
“Based on the dialogue, I have allocated RM30 million in the last budget to help them repay their PTPTN loans,” he said in his remark during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Exchange Ceremony between Yayasan Sarawak and PTPTN at his office in Petra Jaya here today.
Through the MoU, Yayasan Sarawak will utilise the state government’s allocation to provide an incentive to Sarawakian students who have repaid at least 30% of their PTPTN loan to settle 30% of the loan balance.
Abang Johari said Yayasan Sarawak has its own mechanism to manage student loan repayment, and that he hoped that the initiative will help solve their problems.
Meanwhile, PTPTN chief executive Ahmad Dasuki Abdul Majid said the initiative is a proactive measure that sees the state government allocating a huge amount of funds to assist its students in settling their higher education loans.
“This initiative should be praised and become an example for other states,” he said during the ceremony.
He added that as of December 31 last year, PTPTN has disbursed a total of RM4.7 billion in education financing to 195,350 students throughout the country, and 3,429 first-class students were given loan repayment exemptions totalling RM88.7 million.
Yayasan Sarawak director Azmi Bujang said to date, 9,000 Sarawak students were eligible to benefit from the initiative after being screening by PTPTN. – Bernama, March 5, 2021
