No to paying Mara Junior Science Colleges

KUALA LUMPUR: The Rural and Regional Development Ministry does not intend to continue with the proposal of the previous government to set up paying Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM).

Its minister Rina Harun said this was because the ministry now saw the role of MRSM as belonging to the elite group only.

“Therefore MRSM’s role has to return to assist children with excellent results in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) from low income (B40) families as well as middle income (M40) families.

“This is because we have been giving financial assistance to students from the B40 and M40 such as the Mara Education Assistance in which they would be provided RM1,500 a year apart from receiving RM50 pocket money monthly,” she told Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Rina was replying a question by Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (BNMachang) who wanted to know if the Pakatan Harapan government would continue with the previous government’s proposal to set up paying MRSM to accommodate the entry of excellent students from all over the country following the complaints of parents from B40 and M40 groups that their children had failed to obtain places at such colleges.

Rina said the ministry was aware of the original objective of setting MRSM to ensure excellent students from B40 and M40 groups especially in the rural areas to be given priority to obtain the best secondary education in such schools.

She said to date there are 54 MRSM nationwide while the status of the MRSM in Ketereh and Tanah Merah in Kelantan were being studied according to the country’s financial capability.