Deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching says the government has decided to begin a 2 per cent or RM40 mandatory salary deduction the moment a borrower's salary has reached RM2,000. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 ― Malaysians who borrowed money from National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) will face a mandatory 2 per cent salary deduction monthly once they earn RM2,000 and above, Teo Nie Ching said today.

The deputy education minister told the Dewan Rakyat that deductions will also increase when the borrowers’ salaries rise.

“To ensure that we won't burden the youths, the government has decided to begin a 2 per cent or RM40 mandatory salary deduction the moment a borrower's salary has reached RM2,000.

This will increase according to their salary increment,” she said during Question Time.

“Regarding our promise for repayment to begin at RM4,000, the government will consider it once our financial position allows for it,” she added.

Originally, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had announced in the 2019 Budget that the mandatory 2 per cent deduction will begin the moment a borrower earns RM1,000 a month after promising that repayment will only start when a borrower's monthly income hits RM4,000 or more.

Teo said the new decision was made after consultation.

At the same time, she said borrowers in the middle 40 per cent income group ― known as M40 ― who obtained first class honours, will be exempted from repaying their loans, similar to top scorers who came from the bottom 40 per cent wage group.

Teo said the exemption for the top scorers is not limited to those who studied in public higher education institutes.

“This exemption is not given for students studying in public tertiary educations but also private tertiary educations.

“However, students from the T20 category who received first class honours are not exempted because they come from well off family and we hope they can pay their PTPTN loans,” she said, referring to top scorers from the top 20 per cent of the country’s income group.