By Fitri Hazim Hazam
SHAH ALAM, April 25 — The Selangor government aims to enrol 200,000 Form Four and Five students in its free tuition programme within the next five years, said Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Presently, about 130,000 students are benefitting from the Selangor People’s Tutoring Programme (PTRS), which provides academic support to students from low-income households.
“This is part of our continuous efforts to improve the programme, and the state administration will work to increase this number to 200,000 over the next five years,” he said at a press conference to announce the 2024 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results at the Selangor State Education Department yesterday.
Amirudin, who holds the state’s education portfolio, added that Selangor plans to expand PTRS to include more science-based subjects, in line with improvements seen in recent SPM results.
“We will add subjects like Biology, Physics and Chemistry, particularly since we have observed a positive trend in the Subject Average Grade (GPMP) for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) electives in SPM 2024,” he said.
PTRS currently covers core subjects like Bahasa Melayu, English, Mathematics, Science, History and Additional Mathematics. It is specifically targeted at students with average or lower academic performance, offering free learning modules, teacher allowances and lunch provisions.
In a related initiative, Amirudin said the state government is also committed to assisting students who missed their SPM exams by supporting their participation in the resit sessions scheduled for July.
“We will identify those who may have dropped out or missed their exams and reach out to them through our established networks,” he said.
“We want to ensure these students have the opportunity to resit the exam, as it remains a crucial gateway for their future.”
