It came to my attention that there are a lot of people
wanting PTPTN to be abolished and the loan which has been taken to be
considered free. This brings me back to last few months where there was a highly
publicized debate between Sharifah Zohra and Bavani. A lot of people would side
on Bavani but really, after watching the video, I can’t really say that I side
with Bavani. Yes, Sharifah Zohra is more at fault. She is older and should have
been a bigger person when handling the argument. Instead, she got too emotional
and didn’t answer questions that Bavani addressed accordingly. Bavani asked why
other country can provide free higher education but not Malaysia. Well, there
are other reasons on why the education is free in those countries. It is either
there are just a small number of people who can make it to university or the
tax is high in those countries. Nothing comes for free; if not, the value of it
will be taken away. For example, the argument on cancelling off the PTPTN loan.
Sorry to say this but when the student was keen for a loan, they signed an
agreement to pay back the loan which was given to them according to the plan
and the loan will turn to scholarship IF the student managed to score 1st
class honors in the education program. With a contract comes the commitment; a
promise that you will pay back the money so that it can be rolled back for
other students to utilize. The people who signed the contract are those with
SPM certification; meaning that they should know what they sign up for. If they
do not wish to pay, they should have studied hard in order to get 1st
class honors for scholarship conversion. PTPTN plan is rather flexible whereby
during the first few years of entering the career world, we only need to pay
how much we can afford to pay. There really is no need to be selfish and let
others get the chance to study too just as how you got the chance to continue your studies.
I come from a middle class family and yes, sometimes, life
can be hard. Entering adulthood is not easy and really money don’t grow on trees.
There were times when I had to work part-time, sell my stuff, do odd jobs and engage
in some side business for extra money. There were also times when I misuse my
money and end up being broke for almost a month. But the hard times only
thought me how to value money more and how important it is to take responsibilities
seriously. So no! I do not support free education. If one wants a free
education, I believe that he or she must work hard for it.
However, there is one thing that I would wish the government would control or subsidized. That would be the cost of school attire and books. I was very surprise that Professor now sells a 'baju kurung' (mind you it's just the top) at the price of RM45. That is almost RM50 for one! The bottom is about RM37. That is only for the uniforms! We haven't gone to books, shoes etc. So imagine how much you would have to spend every year for "Back to School" shopping trip with your children!
Lucky me, I still have a little time to prepare myself. I hope that when I turn comes, I can provide my children with the best for their future and well-being.
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