KUALA LUMPUR: Seventy per cent students from B40 group have been accepted to further their secondary education at Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in the country for the 2019 school session. Rural Development minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said the number has exceeded the initial 65 per cent entry quota set by the government.
“The intake for Form 1 students into MRSM for 2019 was 70 per cent from B40 (low income), 20 per cent from M40 (middle income) and 10 per cent from T20 (high income) groups.
“The students were selected based on their academic results as well as their family income,” she told reporters after attending Segak ke Sekolah, Jom Potong Rambut programme at PPR Jelatek here.
Rina said the result was also announced earlier than usual in order to help the parents to make preparations for the new school term.
A total of 7,760 places were offered for Form One students into MRSM for 2019 school session, making about 5,400 students accepted were from B40.
The B40 group is defined as having a median income of RM3,000; the M40 group has median income of RM6,275 while T20 group has median income of RM13,148.
Asked whether some of the students accepted to MRSM without good results, Rina said leeway was given to students coming from the rural areas.
“We believe that if students from the rural areas, including Sabah and Sarawak, were given more conducive place to study and better education system, they too, will be able to excel in their studies,” said the Titiwangsa MP.
Asked on the proposal to set up paying MRSM by the previous government, Rina reiterated that the suggestion was scrapped.
“I have told the Dewan Rakyat that the government disagreed with such suggestion,” she said.
She said MRSM was established to help the rural areas community and that the government did not see the need to set up a paying MRSM to cater the elite group.
Meanwhile on the Segak ke Sekolah, Jom Potong Rambut, Rina said some 600 school students have benefited from the programme held simultaneously today at four PPR under Titiwangsa constituency.
The students were those residing at PPR Jelatek, Hiliran Ampang, Laksamana and Cochrane Perkasa.
The free haircut was conducted by trainees from GiatMara.