“It doesn’t matter what race you are, the only priority is that you come from a poor household,” Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said during a press conference today.

“The reality is the system is unfair to families who are struggling financially.

“A lot of people think that a needs-based approach will neglect those from B40 families. In reality, that’s not true,” he said, adding that it would benefit poor Malay families in particular.

The Muar MP also called for a needs-based education model to ensure a smooth transition from a race-based education system.

In the long term, Syed Saddiq suggested a K-12 education model – which is 12 years of primary and secondary school education – with a single-point entry examination.

“In Malaysia, there are so many ways for you to get into a university, and their methods of evaluation differ, and that is why there are suggestions from experts to streamline them,” he said.

The Muda president also said he would be presenting his proposals to the parliamentary committee on education.

Syed Saddiq has previously called for a shift in the education system from a race-based approach to a needs-based approach, noting that some straight-A students who failed to secure a place in public matriculation programmes had received offers from top global universities.

He warned of a brain drain if the issue is not dealt with immediately, adding that Malaysians would lose out in the end.

Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq took the education ministry to task over its plan to establish schools for poor students. He said boarding schools were established for this purpose.

“The problem was, when these schools became successful, well-off students would take the place of poor students.

“That is why I am suggesting, instead of building new schools, let’s revisit the initial goal of boarding schools, and that is to help students from poor and middle-class families,” he said.