Twitter has been buzzing recently on allegations that some of the students that are getting education sponsorships by MARA are children of VIPs and other well-connected individuals. Most argued that the sponsorship funds are not being channeled to the right group and it is currently being abused by students coming from families that don’t necessarily need it. One tweet carrying this sentiment has even managed to garner over 26,800 likes and 25,000 retweets by the time this article is written.
The allegations have of course been promptly denied by MARA Chairman, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun. In her response to Bernama, she said as of January to September 30th this year of the 50,555 MARA-sponsored students in the country and abroad, 89 percent or 44,994 of them were from the B40 group, while 10 percent or 5,055 were from the M40 group. She further asserts that only one percent or 506 students were from the T20 group.
This response however is bewildering. As albeit only a small percentage of T20 students gets sponsorship from MARA, it begs the question as to why there are any children of T20 families that are getting any form of sponsorships from the agency at all. The T20 group in the country is currently defined by a monthly household income of RM10,971 and above, this figure should be more than enough to finance the tertiary education of the children from the household.
To those who are unfamiliar with the agency, MARA is an agency under the purview of the Ministry of Rural Development, it was established on 1st March 1966 as a statutory body by an Act of Parliament as a result of the first Bumiputera Economic Congress resolution in 1965. It is responsible for developing, encouraging, facilitating, and fostering the economic and social development of Bumiputera in the federation, particularly in rural areas.
As the composition of the B40 household in the country is still largely dominated by the Bumiputera ethnic group, it would have been expected by MARA and other government agencies like it to ensure that its funds are being used for the benefits of the people in this group. Education is a key driver for social mobility, education sponsorships should be allocated strategically by MARA to assist in alleviating the B40 Bumiputera household out of poverty and achieve upward social mobility. Thus it is high time for MARA to revise its requirement, the current socio-economic criteria for sponsorships of annual taxable income of RM180,000 and below is far too high for an agency that was created to cater to the least privileged group in the Bumiputera community.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during the tabling of the 12th Malaysian Plan that the administration will prioritize the education of B40 children needs to be followed up with decisive actions by all parties involved. Forming the biggest population bloc in the country, the Bumiputera community needs to be lifted out of poverty for the country as a whole to have a shot at becoming a high-income nation in the future.