PTPTN: SCHEME HAS BENEFITED THOUSANDS

A letter by: B.J. Fernandez, Shah Alam

IT cannot be denied that the Higher Education Loan Fund (PTPTN) is a scheme that has benefited thousands of graduates.

It has been reported that more than RM48 billion has been disbursed. More than 220,000 students benefited from the loans last year alone.

I can attest to the fact that if not for PTPTN, two of my colleagues would not have obtained a tertiary education.

However, PTPTN has been more a boon to independent private educational institutes that have sprouted all over the country since its launch and a bane to students, burdened with loan repayments.

While it is compulsory for most reputable colleges or universities to require minimum five Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or 0-Level credits with equivalent two to four Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia passes or equivalent A-Levels as entry requirements, it is the norm for independent colleges to admit students after they have passed foundation courses. They have thereby bypassed this basic requirement.

Furthermore, most of the degrees awarded are in-house. Lecturers are requested to be lenient in their marking so that students progress to the next year and duly pay their fees.

A case in point is unemployed nurses accorded in-house diplomas who later have to sit for the Nursing Board Exam.

The basis for this process is nothing but profiteering.

The first question asked by these private institutions of parents is how much money they have in the Employees Provident Fund and second, to recommend the virtues of PTPTN.

If you were to glance through advertisements in local media, you will notice almost every ad having a starburst that promotes the EPF and PTPTN schemes.

I have had graduates coming for interviews with a basic degree in business administration.

When asked why they opted for this course, the inevitable answer was, "Well, all my friends were taking this course and I heard it was easy to pass".

What about your parents? "Well, it was the cheapest course, so they were happy about it."

This illustrates parents who seem happy to abdicate their duties by passing the responsibility of undertaking their share of educating their children back to their children.

The first step would be to look at colleges that offer in-house diplomas and degrees and use foundation courses for entry. We have enough reputable public universities that can and should set the minimum standards to which these programmes must adhere.

A re-look is needed based on where the jobs are and to give priority to those seeking loans for such courses.

PTPTN has also received flak for the manner in which it is managed. Perhaps, it would be better for EPF to be assigned the role of sole disbursement and collection agency.

Loan defaults should be factored to banks, which have more avenues to go after defaulters.

Instead of using PTPTN as political fodder, it would be better to re-look objectives and realign PTPTN to be more effective, in line with national objectives.

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