KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 386,142 students of public universities in the country will benefit from the RM185.7mil fee reduction initiative implemented by the government to help reduce the financial burden faced by students and parents affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

       The Higher Education Ministry (MOHE), in a statement, said the reduction of between 10% and 35% was given following a circular issued by the Higher Education Department, dated March 22, to public universities.

       “The fee discount covers service, hostel, convocation and college activities for Malaysian students in the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic session and will be extended to Malaysian students in semester two of the 2020/2021 academic session.

       “The fee reduction for the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic session involves an allocation of RM75mil, of which RM20mil is an additional government allocation and RM55mil using public universities’ internal resources,” it said.

       MOHE said the fee reduction for the first semester of the 2020/2021 academic session would involve RM70.2mil and RM40.5mil for the second session of the 2020/2021 academic year. — Bernama