EduCoop: Aid private education institutions

By Veena Babulal - June 4, 2020 @ 9:08am

KUALA LUMPUR: A stakeholder that looks after the interests of teaching staff within private institutions is appealing to the prime minister to address the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the sector.

Private Education Cooperative of Malaysia (EduCoop) chairman Datuk R. Rajendran was seeking an additional six-month moratorium from October to March next year on bank loan repayments. This included personal, business, hire-purchase and housing loans.

He also called on the government to extend its wage subsidies for small- and medium- entreprises for at least three months beyond October.

Lower interest rates and interest-free loans should also be given to private education institutions, he said.

Many banks, he said, rejected SRF (Special Relief Facility) applications from the education institutions while giving priority to those in the manufacturing and retail sectors.

"This has to be looked into since the private education institutions have lost a big chunk of their income from the March/ April enrolment due to the Movement Control Order (MCO).

"They still have to pay rent (of their premises), salaries and other overhead expenditure," he said in a memorandum addressed to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

A copy of the memorandum was also sent to the education and higher education ministers.

Rajendran also said there should be direct subsidies for high-speed Internet packages for online learning sessions, as many rural students did not have access to Wi-Fi facilities and would depend on prepaid services to keep up with virtual lessons.

"These (prepaid) lines are unstable as the data is limited and cannot be used for online classes.

"The Higher Education Ministry had told colleges and universities that they could conduct online classes only until year end, but many are still struggling to find the right platform and have to use a combination of tools and applications," he said.

Rajendran said specific platforms to conduct examinations had yet to be set up.

He said the ministry had to be responsible in developing and setting up the right platforms for all education institutions to conduct learning classes online.

"Since remote learning is the new normal due to the pandemic, private education institutions have to invest in information technology (IT) infrastructure to ensure that online learning classes can be held smoothly.

"Hence, grants should be given to the institutions to buy and put such infrastructure in place."

Rajendran also urged the Home Ministry and the Higher Education Ministry to consider relaxing the qualification on the intake of foreign students once the MCO and international travel restrictions were lifted.