Student grateful for UMS B40 aid, chance to study
KOTA KINABALU: Just when Jasri Mangi, 20, thought the door to pursue his studies was closed forever, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) B40 programme rekindled his dreams by giving him the opportunity he never had expected.
“From the beginning, I had never expected to be accepted by UMS because of my family’s financial status. I thought to myself even if I studied hard, I may still be unable to pursue my studies.
“Even my parents were not that keen on me pursuing my studies. They once told me that ‘Son, we are not sure how long we can afford to take care of you... we cannot even support you financially.’
“That is why it had never crossed my mind that I would one day be here (UMS),” Jasri, who is the second child among fiving siblings, told reporters.
The B40 programme is a new entry mode mechanism for households in the bottom 40 per cent. It is a UMS’ initiative in fulfilling its responsibility to ensure that underprivileged students would be able to continue their tertiary education.
Jasri had almost given up when his initial attempt at applying for the B4O programme came to no avail.
“The B40 application forms were distributed to all schools. All we had to do was to fill in the form.
“After that, I tried applying online only to find out that my application was rejected.
“To my surprise, a group of UMS staff members came to my house in two cars to interview me and present the offer letter to me ... I was really shocked,” he said, adding that the offer came one month after his online application was rejected.
Jasri registered for the Sports Science course in July this year. Since then, he has yet to return to his hometown at Kampung Salinatan, Nabawan.
He could not even see his family during his one-week holiday as the journey alone would take at least half a day.
His parents, Mani Mabalau, 59, and Orom @ Kapit Ampalus both rely on their farming to support the family.
To help ease their burden, Mani and Orom’s other family members would often chip in to fund Jasri’s education.
“I hope for nothing other than success at UMS, by obtaining a Bachelor’s degree and I want to provide a better life for my family,” Jasri said, adding that his family currently lives in very poor condition.
His youngest brother is currently in Primary One. All his siblings had to rely on kerosene to study at night and they had to walk for almost an hour just to reach their school.
Christy Debora Marcus, 20, who hails from Kg Tongod, Telupid also shares the same joy as Jasri.
The B40 programme has given Christy, who is the youngest child among four siblings, the opportunity to study International Relations.
She has been financially supported by her siblings who are all currently employed. Her father, 64, is no longer working.
Christy is the only one in her family that has managed to pursue her tertiary studies.
Jasri and Mainnie were among the 178 students who received aid during yesterday’s B40 welfare aid presentation ceremony, which was officiated by Head of State Tun Haji Juhar Haji Mahiruddin’s consort Toh Puan Hajah Norlidah Tan Sri RM Jasni, who is also the advisor for the Nur Jauhar Foundation.
UMS, through its Students Affairs Department Welfare Fund, had allocated a total of RM89,000 to the 178 students, who had just been enrolled in the B40 programme.
On top of that, the UMS Alumni Centre had allocated an additional RM10,000, giving each B40 student a total of RM556.18.
As of now, there are a total of 359 UMS students who are enrolled in the B40 programme and 84 of them are from the 2014/2015 session and will be graduating on November 20.
Also present in the event was UMS vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr D Kamaruddin D Mudin.