LETTERS: RECENTLY, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob announced that students who managed to get first class degrees this year from public and private higher learning institutions will be exempted or given a waiver from paying back their Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) loan.
This is a welcome move and will motivate students to excel in their studies.
However, a majority of students had been affected by the pandemic of the last two years and had to resort to online education, which had its limits and shortcomings not to mention new features. Students had to get used to the new system.
So, consideration must be given to students who sat for the exams last year and who had to cope with the new mode of learning. This has affected the results of their final exams.
Many students who could have easily obtained first class degrees had narrowly missed out under the new system.
I missed out getting a first class in mass communication studies by a very narrow margin. I hope the prime minister will look into helping the students who missed out from getting first class narrowly, and had to settle for second class.
These students had put in great effort but due to circumstances beyond their control had been disappointed. Many students had also been affected by Covid-19 and had to be hospitalised or quarantined and this affected their studies.
An exemption or reduction in loan repayment can also be done on a case-by-case basis to give these students a second chance.
Quite a lot of these students come from the B40 and M40 categories and their parents too had been affected in last two years due to the pandemic resulting in MCOs, job losses, lower incomes and rise in the cost of living.
I hope the prime minister will look into this appeal on compassionate grounds and give the deserving students a Merdeka gift by way of a reduction or exemption in the payment of the PTPTN loans.
A. Anna
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times