President of Gabungan Kami Sayang Mahasiswa (Kasih) Mariam Abd Rashid told a press conference that the government should allocate funds for the education of such students, instead of asking them to do part-time jobs to get extra cash.

“I don’t agree with this (working part-time) suggestion as we are a developed nation, so the students’ education should be funded.

“We should not let our students take up part-time jobs. No human being can do two jobs at the same time. Besides, job opportunities are so limited now, and the students have a packed schedule. They will be very tired and sleepy if they have to do this,” she said.

Cases of students complaining of skipping meals, and even starving to the extent of suffering from chronic health problems due to financial difficulties, has been making headlines of late.

According to Mariam, many of the reports about hungry students her NGO received were from International Islamic University (UIA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaya (UM), as well as Universiti Selangor (Unisel).

She also dismissed the general perception that today’s students were pampered, and said cases of students splurging their loan money on extravagant items, were isolated.

“This (hungry students) issue is not new,” she said, adding that it had however only come to light recently.