KOTA KINABALU, Feb 7 – The Sabah Kadazandusun Murut Welfare and Education Association (PEKADIN) has described the launch of the Skim Prihatin Pendidikan 1Malaysia (SPP1M) by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday as appropriate, timely and reflection of the 1Malaysia spirit. In welcoming the move, PEKADIN vice president Simon Molubi said this showed that Najib was truly sincere in transforming the higher education in the country, making it accessible to all, regardless of background, religion and creed.
He said the study loans and scholarship under the SPPIM programme would certainly reduce the burden or help parents finance their children’s higher education.
“I believe most people, especially parents are happy about this SPPIM that is an addition to the PTPTN Education Loan Scheme.
“Our Prime Minister is really listening to the grouses of parents and students alike. We in PEKADIN are thankful to the government for this educational assistance,” he told Bernama, here today.
Simon was commenting on the launch of the SPP1M, primarily aimed at assisting students at the tertiary level to obtain additional study loans. In launching the SPP1M, Najib had said that the government had allocated a huge sum for study loans and scholarship in view of the rising cost of higher education which puts pressure on parents, especially those paying for their children’s studies.
Najib was quoted as saying that the government introduced the SPP1M as an additional funding with the loans limited to RM150,000 for a medical specialist course and RM100,000 for the critical courses chosen. The SPP1M loan acts as a top-up to the existing National Higher Education Corporation Fund (PTPTN) loan for students pursuing their bachelor’s degree or master’s in certain fields. The scheme will be implemented in two stages – during the second quarter of 2013 for entry into local universities and in June for twinning programmes and further studies abroad.
BERNAMA
