She told a press conference held at Parliament lobby here that the government should instead reduce the funding provided for “unnecessary programmes” such as the National Service (PLKN).

“What is the government’s rationale when the first thing it slashed in the 2016 Budget was scholarships?

“In the year 2014, from the bottom 40 (country’s poor), only 1.4 per cent are graduates. That says a lot.

“The government needs to stop wasteful programmes like the PLKN and instead allocate the funds for bursary scholarship students to be given the best education,” said the Lembah Pantai MP.

She was commenting on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement earlier today that those armed with a higher education coped better with the high cost of living due to securing better paying jobs.

However scholarships by the Public Service Department was reduced drastically in 2016 as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures.

Nurul Izzah urged the Barisan Nasional-led government to work towards retaining talented minds by providing necessary resources that would attract them to continue staying in the country and added, “Better for us to invest before they actually leave than to lure them back.

“The cost to the economy, to reduce the income tax of those who have left the country is a lot.”