STEM Tahfiz Students To Get Priority Under MARA Cadet Pilot Funding Scheme

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 (Bernama) -- Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) will open financing offers to new students interested in pursuing the Cadet Pilot Programme, with priority given to Tahfiz students from the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) stream.

Its chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, said advertisements together with the eligibility requirements for the programme financing offer would be released soon to enable interested new students to submit their applications.

“The minimum requirements include students from the STEM stream. However, although the offer is open to all qualified students, priority will be given to Tahfiz students from the STEM stream. They will undergo a selection process including interviews.

“The final phase of the interview will be with the MARA chairman himself for a Quran memorisation assessment session through Tasmik Al-Quran,” he said in a Facebook post.

Through the post, he also shared a video of a hafazan interview session with a student, Muhammad Adam, who applied for MARA sponsorship in the comments section.

Asyraf said students wishing to apply for the cadet pilot programme must also fulfil the basic requirements set by aviation training academies such as Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) and BATS.

According to him, aviation training academies sponsored by MARA must also have agreements with airlines to guarantee employment opportunities for trainees who receive MARA financing.

“I and the MARA management must always think about what is best to uplift the dignity of future Malay and Bumiputera generations,” he said.

Responding to a netizen’s question on since when the Tahfiz stream prioritised STEM, he said Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) Ulul Albab had long combined STEM and tahfiz streams, while a similar concept was also implemented at Sekolah Berasrama Penuh (SBP) Integrasi.

“In fact, many SMKA (National Religious Secondary Schools) have the same stream combining STEM and Tahfiz. Also for your information, 221 MRSM students who memorised all 30 juzuk of the Quran obtained straight As in the latest SPM results, including STEM subjects such as Additional Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology,” he said.

-- BERNAMA