Saedah Siraj, a lecturer at Universiti Malaya’s Center for Research and Development in Family Education, said these parents are aware of the quality of education offered at MRSM, an institution under Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), which “deserves praise.”

“Parents are aware of the quality of MRSM, meaning that some are willing to trick the system to get their children enrolled there.

“They are very eager to secure a spot for their children,” she told FMT.

She was responding to Mara chairman Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki’s warning to parents against making a false declaration on their income levels just to have their children accepted into an MRSM.

Saedah said that to prevent such a practice, Mara needs to be stricter and devise fairer methods of assessment to determine the appropriate income threshold.

Although there is no policy stating that only financially-disadvantaged students can enter MRSM, Mara prioritises admission of students from low-income families.

The agency’s policy sets a quota of 60% of MRSM students from the B40 group, while the rest comprise those who qualify, having passed the MRSM entrance aptitude test (UKKM) from the M40 and T20 income groups.

Meanwhile, National Parent-Teacher Association Collaborative Council president Ali Hasan recommended that Mara include a “warning” on the MRSM application form, urging parents to provide accurate information.

“If discrepancies are found, follow-up action needs to be taken because we want to allocate a portion of the space, the learning opportunity, to those who truly need it,” he said.

He suggested that Mara could refer to the Padu integrated database in order to screen applications and that those found to have lied about their income levels be blacklisted.