Prof Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman, formerly of Universiti Malaya (UM), said the problem was real, especially in public universities and that the persistent hunger students dealt with on a daily basis had negatively affected their academic performance.
He said that when speaking to UM students who had been expelled, he discovered that they could not attend morning classes as they worked nights to help cover their university expenses.
“The money from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) was only enough to cover their fees and students had to fork out their own money for daily expenses,” the Malay daily quoted him as saying.
Mohammad Redzuan said some students from poorer families only ate once or twice a day and some had to find alternatives to make ends meet, including selling tins and old newspapers for a mere RM15 or RM20 respectively.
He said the issue could be resolved if the government stopped denying it.
“Where is the shame of admitting to the problem? In this current situation, with the high cost of living, problems like these are bound to happen.
“There are many solutions, Malaysians are very generous. As an example, some universities issue coupons to poorer students,” he explained.
On January 10, Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh pledged to take personal responsibility for the matter and directed universities to identify affected students and inform him and the ministry about it.