I am writing in response to the letter Exam scores not total meritocracy by Tobpinai.

The author suggests that due to different socio-economic backgrounds, a student will perform differently in exams. I agree with this point of view to a certain extent but the author fails to recognise that education should not be influenced by socio-economic backgrounds.

There is no need for extra tuition classes after school if teachers are properly trained and educational facilities are well set-up with all the resources there for the student to perform well in his/her examinations.

It is an acceptable situation that there needs to be a system to help under-privileged students do better in schools and universities but the solution is not in denying other students their right to higher education. There should be a system whereby good education is available to all who want it.

It is true that examination results should not be the be all and end all of a person's abilities. At the end of the day, examination results are just a guideline to a person's knowledge and they do not give a full account of his/her capabilities.

However, the foremost and basic form of gauging a person's level of competence is to find out how much that person knows. Only then do you have a rough measure of whether he/she could handle a particularly challenging subject or whether he/she should be advised to pursue something else.

If the government does not set a proper examination yardstick to work with, it will not know what the nation's future workforce is capable of.

Our STPM is by far one of the toughest examinations in the world. This is the yardstick that we should be using, not some quickly patched-together alternative that serves a skewed and wrong objective.

Having matriculation-style examinations is a luxury a developing country cannot afford to have It should have a tough uni entrance examination as the general population does not have the convenience of constantly reassessing their abilities due to the dire need to create a pro-active and capable workforce.

The government must get its act together to provide both quality education and opportunities for all citizens to pursue it. Funds, scholarships, well-stocked libraries and even cramming sessions in schools for those who want them will be valuable aid for those from under-privileged backgrounds.

If the government feels that there is a need for affirmative action and quotas in order to help the bumiputeras, then this sort of action should be taken via these progressive initiatives - not by denying students the right to have a quality education of their choice.

And if the government already knows this but is more interested in cutting costs or gaining political ground along racial lines, in my opinion, it will be a case of destroying the bigger picture at the expense of short-term gain.

Stop holding the country and its people back!