KUALA LUMPUR: Higher educational institutions (IPTs) nationwide have been told by Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad to better manage matters related to student enrolment.
She said the ministry is aware of complaints made by students and their family members following the decision to postpone the return and registration of current and new students.
However, Noraini said the postponement was made due to the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the country.
She also said that the decision was made after the ministry discussed the matter with all IPT managements, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Health Ministry.
"In line with the government's policy to give autonomy to the management of IPTs, the ministry suggested for the registration of all new and current students at the IPTs to be postponed immediately.
"This suggestion was made following the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the past few days. The increase in cases is unexpected," she said in a statement today.
Yesterday, the Higher Education Ministry suggested that the student registration process be postponed and for all learning processes to be done online.
The suggestion, however, was met with criticism. Many students were reported to have been left stranded outside their campuses yesterday after they were told of the postponement.
Since there are students who have already arrived at their respective universities, Noraini said they should be allowed to stay on campus for the time being, but for those who are still at their hometowns, they should remain there temporarily.
"I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and I hope we can all curb the Covid-19 chain of infection," she said.
Yesterday, the Health Ministry reported a record-high number of daily new Covid-19 cases. There were 287 new cases, mostly reported in Kedah (129), Sabah (113) and Selangor (31).