PUTRAJAYA, Sept 30 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today hinted at the possibility of ending the practice of assisting students from wealthy families in enrolling in top government-funded public schools.

Anwar suggested that the government plans to revamp anti-poverty programs, which will include safeguards for stricter allocation usage, as he acknowledged the legacy problems with socio-economic funding that often end up "subsidising the elites.”

This hint comes amid the Anwar administration’s push to plug leakages through major internal reforms.

For poverty alleviation programmes, his government continues to phase out various blanket aid distributions and has moved towards targeted interventions under a broader attempt at cutting wastes that Anwar said has mostly benefited the rich.

"How is it that many students in the science schools or Malay institutions, which are meant for the poor, come from elite families?” Anwar asked at the National Symposium to End Poverty here.

"They benefit the families of top civil servants, politicians, and elite businessmen; their children are all sent to the best schools funded by the government at a very high rate, making it very unfair,” the prime minister added.

"By right, if a wealthy child is sent to an engineering faculty (as an example), it doesn’t matter if they’re Malay, Chinese, or Kadazan; if they’re rich, they should pay more.”

Top publicly-funded universities and schools like the Mara Junior Science College were founded to help good students from middle and lower income families only to become a seedbed for children from wealthy families, whose enrolment is usually aided by the connections their parents have.

Critics of the patronage system said the culture has kept children from disadvantaged families from moving up socio-economically compared to the wealthier ones, fueling calls for the system to be eradicated.

"Leakages, including students who come from the wealthiest families, being allowed to enroll in top science secondary schools that are heavily subsidised by the government, must end,” Anwar said.

"This is a hint I’m giving early before I announce the next federal budget next month. If the country is really to be just, we must be fair to those who most need it, such as vulnerable groups,” the prime minister added.