Only 3 Malay-Indians have requested for education aid

Ipoh (Malaysia), June 29 (ANI): Only three Malay-Indian students in Parek have applied for Dermasiswa or education aid for further studies in last four months.

The New Straits Times quoted state executive councillor Dr Mah Hang Soon, as saying that the state government was concerned about the low education aid requests from the Indian community against 205 Malays and 170 Chinese students' requests.

Dr Mah said the low figure could be due to poor publicity about the aid programme for Perak-born students.

"I believe many in the Indian community do not know about the aid programme. But, this can be rectified. The state government will work with Tamil newspaper organisations and others to publish information about the aid scheme," he said.

A total of 378 students applied for, and received, aid to pursue certificate, foundation, matriculation, diploma, advanced diploma and degree courses, Dr Mah said.

The Parek government doles out: 300 ringgits for students pursuing certificate, matriculation and foundation courses, 500 ringgits for diploma courses, 1,000 ringgits for advanced diploma and non-professional degree courses, and 1,200 ringgits for professional degree courses.

Since the aid amount is nominal, students are not required to repay it. (ANI)