KUALA LUMPUR: The Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) slammed Higher Education minister, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin for disregarding students affected by the university's zero-balance policy.
The zero-balance policy requires students to clear their outstanding fees in full to activate their status for new course registration.
In a statement, the student body said his act of agreeing with the policy for settling the university's student debt reflected his lack of sympathy for the students' hardships in paying their fees.
"Even if the claim that a small percentage of students would be affected by the policy is true, they should not be abandoned and should be given alternatives, which as of now UM has not publicly announced.
"Whereas for students who can pay their fees, many of them have to keep a tight grip on their purse strings just to be able to pay in full," the statement read.
The student body said that the minister has clearly demonstrated that he has prioritised the university's financial progress over the students' convenience of study, failing to meet his commitment to future generations.
This comes after Khaled told Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the university believed the implementation of the policy was to prevent financially capable students from intentionally not paying their fees and there were only 3.97% of students who would be affected by the policy.
He claimed that it was with "good judgement and discretion" with promises that students who failed to pay their fees in full would not face action immediately.
The policy targets those who failed to settle their fees after two consecutive reminders.
"Prior to the implementation of the zero-balance policy students were allowed to settle their fees just before taking examinations, instead of before course registration.
"This allowed many more students to look for methods to settle their fees as during these times, students can work part-time, seek financial assistance and scholarships and apply for loans to pay their fees before the examination," it added.
However, Umany asserted that many students cannot prepare to do so with UM failing to inform students of this change in policy beforehand, leaving many struggling to look for ways to pay.
It stressed that education is a basic human right for all, regardless of their financial means.
"The government should attempt to assure equal ease of access to education to its citizens across the social spectrum instead of abandoning those who cannot afford it.
"Umany wishes to restate its stance that the "Zero Balance" Policy must be abolished, for equal rights to education that our future successors of this country deserve, for an educational system that does not discriminate against the poor, and for steadier educational pathways that should be guaranteed by the government," it said.