Mohd Arifin chats with a student who received the glasses assistance.
KOTA KINABALU (Oct 22): Students from financially strapped families who want to pursue higher education can now look forward to assistance from the State Government.
According to State Education Exco Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Arif, a committee has been set up to look into the plight of these students, especially those who are from rural areas.
The committee, he said, is chaired by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary who will be meeting with all universities in Sabah to gather information about students who are unable to pay their enrolment fees.
“Our focus now is on students from the B40 group and families listed in e-Kasih. We will get their information and from there see how they can be financially assisted, whether through the Sabah Education Fund, state scholarship, Sabah Foundation or MUIS.
“Currently we are focused on UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) and we are now processing the information collected … how many students have registered but are unable to pay their registration fees due to factors such as waiting for their scholarship.
“Once all the information is processed, we will pay the registration fee for them,” said Mohd Arifin after presenting the Sabah Education Fund assistance here on Tuesday.
The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister also disclosed that last year, 2,000 UMS students received the one-off Bantuan Tunai Pendaftaran IPT (BUDI) assistance.
He added that consideration will be given to students who are from above the B40 group if they encounter financial problems.
“If they have problems paying the registration fees, they can appeal to the committee and if they qualify, we will give them the financial assistance,” he said.
Mohd Arifin also said that public higher learning institutes are now allowing the students to register first and deferring the payment of registration fees to a later date so that the students can source financial assistance to pay the fees.
Meanwhile when asked if community and grassroots leaders have been carrying out their responsibilities in identifying students from poor families who require assistance to pursue higher education, Mohd Arifin said the responsibility is shared by everyone.
“It is our responsibility as leaders, it goes from bottom to the top and it is also the responsibility of schools as well as the media to disseminate the necessary information,” he said.
The State Government, he said, has approved assistance for 4,000 students this year.
“But if some of them fell through the cracks, I urge them to contact the relevant authorities so we can help them,” he said.
The students or their parents can contact the District Office, UPPM or village heads of their respective areas as well as the district education office for assistance, Mohd Arifin said.
Earlier this month, two students Nor Fasha Natashya Abdul Rahim, 20 and Crisnanalina Jumis, 19, nearly had their dreams of pursuing their studies shattered as they were not able to afford their registration fees.
Their plight was highlighted by the media and caught the attention of Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, who later presented financial assistance to them and made it possible for them to pursue their tertiary education at UMS.
