KUALA LUMPUR – There are unanswered questions the government needs to explain about its announcement on automatic matriculation placements for all SPM students who scored 10As, a University Malaya student group said.
The UM Association of New Youth (Umany) said Putrajaya needs to explain how it will allocate spaces for all who achieved 10As based on the programme’s resources and teaching staff and how it will keep its promise without abolishing the quota system.
“Without abolishing the quota system, is the 10% quota sufficient for all 10A students? Does the 10As include A+, A, and A-?” Umany asked in a statement.
It said the government needs to clear the confusion, as allowing all 10A achievers who are non-Bumiputera into the matriculation programme, while retaining the quota will “inevitably overcrowd the programme”.
“This will lead to an overflow of students with a CGPA of 4.0, creating more grievances in the application process for popular university courses and further marginalising outstanding STPM students,” the student movement said.
It also asked why the announcement was made for only 10A students, noting that a student may have taken nine subjects but scored As for the four subjects – biology, chemistry, physics, and additional mathematics – needed to qualify for the science stream in the matriculation programme.
“After the 10A announcement, a student with 10As (but) four A- in science subjects would be prioritised over a student with four A+ in science subjects but fewer than 10As overall. This will affect the standard of students in the matriculation programme.
“Furthermore, students typically take nine subjects, so this announcement will unfairly exclude them, further worsening admission inequality.”
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir recently said education and higher education ministries will coordinate to ensure students with 10As and more in their SPM exam will have placements either in matriculation or public universities.
There has been confusion since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on June 30 that all those who achieve 10As in their SPM examination, regardless of race, will be given a guarantee for a place in the matriculation programme.
MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong earlier this week also questioned the programme’s capacity for all 10A scorers, given the 90:10 quota for Bumiputera to non-Bumiputera students in the programme.
Wee, in a Facebook post, had asked if the 10% quota for non-Bumiputera students was based on actual admissions or on programme capacity.
“According to the education minister’s 2019 parliamentary response, the MoE has always calculated the 10% quota for non-Bumiputera students based on actual admissions (of Bumiputera), not on capacity.
“In other words, if bumiputera students do not fill all places in the matriculation programme, non-Bumiputera students cannot exceed 10% of the student intake.
“Is the government planning to base admissions on capacity rather than actual non-Bumiputera student numbers to determine the 10% quota?
Wee, in another Facebook post yesterday, said MCA was disappointed after its youth wing received calls from parents whose children failed to secure a matriculation spot after the results of their appeal were announced.
“Many parents are disappointed that they and their children had high hopes of being accepted into the programme, but now their dreams are shattered. Can the prime minister help them?” Wee asked. – July 6, 2024