KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has given discount amounting to RM17.82 million to 4,030 Mara education loan borrowers with a total repayment of RM28.95 million as of Oct 11.
Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said the discount was given out from March 25 to Dec 31 this year in conjunction with Mara's 50th anniversary.
He was responding to a question by Anuar Abdul Manap (BN-Sekijang) at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Alexander said the agency had launched awareness and engagement programmes to ensure that borrowers repay back their study loan.
The programmes are targeted at final year students in Mara education institutions (IPMa) and public institutions of higher learning (IPTA).
"The agency had arranged new policies and strategies for 2016 to ensure there will be no problem with continuous funding.
"Mara is working with IPMa and IPTA alumni associations to update borrowers' latest working address so as to keep tab on their repayment obligation.
"We don't want to be punitive, we want them to step forward and pay voluntarily," he said.
Alexander said Mara would continue to sponsor students overseas for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects, collectively known as STEM.
He said students were sent to study in countries with lower living cost without compromising on education quality, such as India, Australia and New Zealand.