MIC confident of filling 557 vacant matriculation place

PUTRAJAYA: The MIC is confident that the one-off offer made by the Education Ministry to eligible Indian students to fill the 557 vacant places for matriculation courses for the 2012/2013 academic year will be fully utilised.

Its president, Datuk Seri G.Palanivel, said the students would be selected among 4,000 Indian students who had applied for places in government matriculation colleges.

"We will ensure that the 557 places will be filled as there are 4,000 other applications from Indian students who wanted to attend the courses," he told Bernama after attending the National Digital Conference 2012 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here today.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also Education Minister, in a statement yesterday, said the ministry would make a one-off offer to 557 eligible Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) to take up places for matriculation courses for the 2012/2013 academic session.

He said that a total of 1,539 Indian students had been offered places to attend the matriculation courses which began on June 4, but only 943 had accepted the offer and registered at the ministry's matriculation colleges, hence leaving 557 vacant places.

Meanwhile, Palanivel said MIC would also strive to increase the number of Indian pupils entering Tamil schools by upgrading the buildings and facilities at Tamil schools.

He said this was because most Indian parents had refused to send their children to Tamil schools due to the lack of facilities in the schools, even though they schools had a good track record in Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination.

"Yesterday, I visited Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Subramaniya Barathee in Gelugor, Penang. Approximately 240 of its pupils excelled in their UPSR examinations.

"It was said to be the best Tamil school in Penang, but seeing the condition of buildings and facilities in the school really made me sad," he said.

Meanwhile, in KUALA LUMPUR, the 1Malaysia Indian Students Movement president Mahaganapathy Dass said the offer for more Indian high-achiever students to attend matriculation courses was a long-awaited news and should not be politicised.

"Many people are paid to criticise the matriculation issue without understanding the government's sincere and genuine efforts to uplift the Indian community.

"If more Indian students could attend the matriculation programme, then more of them would be able to pursue their studies at the public institutions of higher learning," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Universiti Malaya Indian Graduates Task Force member V.Radhakrishnan, however, called on other community leaders to put forward a motion to the Education Ministry to continue implementing the initiative on annual basis.

"We would like to thank the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) for keeping his promise to give the Indians a fair deal in uplifting the status of the community by laying the foundation in all aspects of political, economic and administrative transformation," he added.

Professor Dr P.Ramachandran, a communication lecturer at Taylor's College, on the other hand, hoped that the students would be able to cope with the culture and environment of the matriculation programme. --BERNAMA

MIC confident of filling 557 vacant matriculation place

PUTRAJAYA: The MIC is confident that the one-off offer made by the Education Ministry to eligible Indian students to fill the 557 vacant places for matriculation courses for the 2012/2013 academic year will be fully utilised.

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