PUTRAJAYA: The cabinet has agreed to increase student intake into the pre-university matriculation programme to 40,000 from the present 25,000.
However, the quota system which allocates 90 per cent of seats to Bumiputeras and the remainder to non-Bumiputeras will stay.
Education Minister Maszlee Malik said this was in line with the original vision of the matriculation programme, which was to encourage more Bumiputera involvement in the sciences.
“This effort is being done to ensure that students who excelled in their studies were given the best possible chance to further their studies,” he said in a statement.
Maszlee said the Pakatan Harapan government saw that there was a need to add the number of students in the field of science and decide to maximise the capacity of the matriculation programme.
“With regards to the added costs involved, the ministry will hold discussions with the Finance Ministry soon to come up with the best possible solution.
“The cabinet has also asked the ministry to come up with a strategic approach to the increase, including using the expertise and premises available in teacher training institutes to accommodate the increase in numbers,” he said.