Kajang prison inmates to pursue degree in business administration

Seven Kajang prison inmates have been offered to pursue a degree in business administration (honours) at the Open University Malaysia (OUM).

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said that education for inmates was instrumental to expedite their rehabilitation process as well as helping them to secure better jobs after their release.

"Their education fees are being borne by their respective families," he told reporters after handing over the offer letters to the seven inmates, who are in jail for petty crime, in conjunction with the 163rd Prison Department Day at the Malaysia Prison College, here today.

Abu Seman noted that ex-convicts would usually find it hard to get jobs and eventually revert to crime to survive. OUM's Business and Management Faculty dean, Prof Zakaria Ismail, told Bernama that prison life was not the end for inmates as it could instead serve as an opportunity for them to improve their lives via education.

"OUM is helping the prisoners to rebuild their lives so that they could be better individuals and ready to venture into business," he added.