The Education Ministry said it has offered the pre-university matriculation programme to 1,000 poor ethnic Chinese students who score straight As. — Google street view

PUTRAJAYA, June 28 — The Education Ministry said it has offered the pre-university matriculation programme to 1,000 poor ethnic Chinese students who score straight As.

Of the 1,000 spots available for students from the bottom 40 (B40) category, minister Maszlee Malik said over 800 have already been taken up.

“The offer is aimed at non-Bumiputera students from low-income families for the session of 2018/2019,” he said, following the presentation of matriculation offer letters to three SPM students at the ministry.

Maszlee said the 1,000 spots will not replace existing seats for Bumiputera students, but are instead an addition.

“PH stands by its promise to help all students who deserve it, Bumiputera or otherwise, and depending on their socio-economic background.

“The matriculation programme enables the students to pursue their studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” he said.

When asked why Malaysian Indian students were not included in the offer, Maszlee said they were already addressed in the initiatives started by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government that aimed to provide for B40 students.

“Since 1999, the ministry’s matriculation programme has produced 262,957 students who went on to their first degree period in STEM.

“For this session, approximately 89,891 applicants have been accepted, including 20,040 non-Bumiputera applicants. In total, 4,068 non-Bumiputera students have been offered placement in matriculation colleges for 2018/2019,” he said.

Separately, Maszlee said he had received complaints from parents of students attending Chinese vernacular schools, who claimed their children were required to attend paid computer classes conducted by third-party companies during school hours.

“After consideration, it has been decided that the special authorisation letter from the former deputy education minister II to several schools via the District Education Office has been cancelled.

“However, the paid computer classes can be done as part of the co-curricular activities after school, as long as the students are not coerced into it,” he said.