Parents of students at UTAR and TAR UC are about to suffer a headache as MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong announced that TAR UC and UTAR fees will likely be increased. Oh, the horror!
Big headache as TAR UC and UTAR fees go UP!
The MCA president and also member of parliament for Ayer Hitam shared this unwelcomed news with the press after Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng informed parliament that the Malaysian government had decided to allocate only RM 5.5 million to the UTAR and TAR UC development fund. This would be a massive drop in the usual government matching grant of RM 30 million per year by the previous BN government.
The reason for this reduced funding from the government was explained by the Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng last Wednesday, 21 November 2018, during a Parliament session. The current Pakatan Harapan government wants a separation of education from politics. This means the government expects MCA to relinquish its ownership and control of UTAR and TAR UC before the Pakatan Harapan government would consider allocating matching grants to these two institutions.
MCA made the commitment to match grants given by the previous government to ensure that TAR UC and UTAR fees remain affordable. This was considered crucial as many parents send their children there due to its affordability and quality standard of education which also boasts of high employability among its graduates.
The MCA president accused the Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng who is also DAP Secretary-General of making the decision out of spite as MCA and DAP are known political rivals. He went as a far as to label the Finance Minister as being cruel to the students of the two MCA-owned institutions. The Finance Minister responded by warning the BN component party of not punishing the students by raising their fees.
Affordable tertiary education is important
Affordable tertiary education is very much needed and crucial to many secondary school students who are looking to further their studies after completing their SPM. The country needs its younger generation to be equipped with many quality tertiary level branches of knowledge to boost its skilled workforce.
A country’s economic future is heavily reliant on this fact. And so financial constraints should not be made an impediment to students furthering their studies.
Private colleges and universities should be credited for their role in providing many students with tertiary education opportunities which have been deprived of them due to examination results that are less than satisfactory.
They also contribute to the nation’s economy by attracting foreign students to our shores. However the prices of the tuition fees are out of reach for many an average working parent to afford.
So it is imperative that institutions such as UTAR and TAR UC continue to be financially welcoming to the majority of students who are in need of a wholesome tertiary education. On this note, the Malaysian people greatly appreciates the roles that other institution such as Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), polytecnics, state and government-owned universities play in elevating our younger generations’ education and absorbing the bulk of the tuition fees.
Conclusion
Education is an investment that rarely, if ever, fails in nurturing a return many times its capital. Malaysians continue to hope and rely on the government and other financially-endowed institutions to pave the way forward in this national matter. On that note, we hope that the issue facing TAR UC and UTAR fees may be resolved amicably without any negative effects to the students currently enrolled at those institutions.
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