Keluarga Malaysia Education Tour to be held in 50 locations nationwide

SEGAMAT: The Keluarga Malaysia Education Tour to provide a second chance to students who wish to pursue their further studies, is set to be held at 50 locations nationwide.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the tour provided an opportunity to students who failed to enter university following the UPU Online assessment, which did not take into account family status, place of residence and other considerations during the decision making process.

"So that's why we made this programme, and as a result, many of the students who failed (the assessment) managed to get offers to enter the university on the spot during the tour.

"When the Barisan Nasional government collapsed in 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government stopped this programme. Although the government changed again, due to COVID-19, we couldn't afford to continue, and this year we are restarting it," he told reporters after launching the tour here today.

According to him, since 2016, the programme has facilitated 160,374 students to gain entry to public institutions of higher learning, private institutions of higher learning and technical and vocational education (TVET) agencies.

"This year, we are targeting 50,000 students to gain entry to tertiary institutions," he said.

Ismail Sabri also called on agencies and foundations to come forward and help the poor and less fortunate students to pursue their further studies.

Earlier, during his speech, he said education was a very important catalyst to change the future of individuals and their families.

"For the children of the poor, there is no other way to change the future..there is nothing other than education to change the fate of their families.

"(And) the government also makes education the main agenda to change the lives of the children, to change the lives of their families, and change our country," added Ismail Sabri.

During the ceremony, the Prime Minister also announced an allocation of RM1 million from the Petronas Foundation to help those pursuing their further studies.

-- BERNAMA