KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — The government will reintroduce the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayment exemption to graduates who earn first-class bachelor’s degree beginning from 2019.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the privilege would be given to deserving graduates regardless of economic status, race and religion.

As such, he hoped that PTPTN could discuss with the Ministry of Finance regarding the matter in terms of the allocations involved.

"This is as an encouragement to the children of Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) to work hard and obtain the best grades in their studies,” he said.

He made the announcement in his speech at PTPTN’s 25th Silver Jubilee Celebration at the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) today.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri advised all borrowers who have yet to settle their PTPTN loans to do so immediately so that the study loans can continue to be given to new students.

"Repayment of study loans is important to ensure continuity and availability of the fund for new students who are also heirs of the nation,” he said.

The prime minister said as of last month, over two million or 82.04 per cent of PTPTN borrowers had settled their loans totalling RM17.8 billion.

"To those who were committed to repaying their loans, I thank you,” he said.

Ismail Sabri said after 25 years of establishment, PTPTN has become the country’s main tertiary education fund corporation committed to fulfilling its mandate and had helped 3.67 million people to pursue their studies with the disbursement of loans totalling RM66.87 billion so far.

Ismail Sabri said he believed that many PTPTN borrowers had also graduated, secured good jobs and were able to improve their standard of living and became part of the country’s valuable human capital.

The government, through the PTPTN, had also allocated over RM3 billion per year to provide study loans to approximately 180,000 new students pursuing tertiary education.

The prime minister said the government had also introduced the Simpan SSPN initiative to ensure that the people could reduce their dependence on loans.

"Simpan SSPN has shown an encouraging performance with the total deposit of RM12.5 billion from 5.4 million accounts as of end of June,” he said.

Apart from that, he said PTPTN should increase cooperation with state governments in a bid to increase its loan repayment collection, such as the cooperation forged with Sarawak which recorded loan repayment of more than RM30 million.

In his speech, the prime minister also expressed gratitude for the commitment and efforts taken by PTPTN since 1997 in ensuring that no one would be left behind in getting higher education.

Among the efforts were the launch of the my-PTPTN app; the launch of the Education Savings Club to increase financial literacy among children; and the cooperation with state governments to give incentives to newborns in the form of a Simpan SSPN account, he said.

Also present at the event were Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad ad Deputy Education Minister II Datuk Mohamad Alamin. — Bernama