BENTONG: As many as 20,300 students of the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM), which is more than half the total student population, are receiving financial aid from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).
Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said this included the assistance given under the Aid for Mara Education (BUDI) programme for 2,500 hardcore poor students who get at least RM2,500 a year.
She said there were about 11,000 students who received pocket money aid of RM50 a month and 6,800 students are exempted from paying contributions of RM60 a month
“This means that more than half of MRSM students are getting financial assistance from Mara in various forms,“ she told Bernama after a working visit to MRSM Bentong here in conjunction of the registration of Form 1 students today.
Rina said Mara expected the number of aid recipients this year to increase as the percentage of students from B40 families had increased by 70% compared to 58% last year.
She added that the average operations cost for each MRSM student each year was about RM16,000.
Rina added that the registration process for the second group of students would be from Jan 21 after Mara has determined the number of vacancies still available in MRSM throughout the country.
As many as 178 students have been offered places into Form 1 of MRSM Bentong, with 13 being non-Bumiputra.
Bentong MRSM has a total of 780 students with 18 non-Bumiputra and three Orang Asli. — Bernama
