Aspiring teacher Luqman Ali (not his real name) is ecstatic about joining the teaching profession soon, but as his graduation date draws nearer, a new reality has dawned upon him.

NONE Upon graduation, Luqman will be saddled with a RM40,000 debt from the loan he took from the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) and wonders if this is the right way to begin life.

Coming from a family of teachers, he learnt that no knowledge in the world needed to be negotiated for, but he has been forced to make sacrifices just for the sake of his ambition.

"The PTPTN destroys our youth. Many are only 20 years old and already they have more than RM40,000 in debt and cannot pay (their loans)," said Luqman, who is pursuing a diploma in Islamic studies.

NONE Lamenting on the 15 years of suffering that PTPTN has caused many, many students, he wonders why the government forces students to take illogically large debts, rather than help them pursue education, free or at least a cost that is not prohibitive.

Asked if a debt rebate or lower interest would help, he is adamant: Students with such loans should not settling for anything less than having their debt written off.

NONE "Malaysia can afford it," said Luqman, who was among the scores of students who joined the protest against the PTPTN loan at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur over the past few days.

Fellow protester Muhammad Ali Asyraf agreed, saying that wastage and corruption were the factors depriving students of greater education opportunities.

"If we can eliminate corruption and waste, then education can be paid for. Why can't the government pay for education in full?" Muhammad Ali asked.

Students are not being dishonest in asking that their debts be written off, he said, describing how poor students with no money and big ambitions had no choice but to take on loans to fund their education.

Not everybody agrees

However, for Form Six student Nicol Paul Miranda, it is not PTPTN that is jeopardising his dreams.

His wants to study philosophy at a local university, but the lack of any philosophy courses in Malaysia threatens to kill that ambition.

NONE Rather than problems from repaying PTPTN loans, Miranda feels that it is accessibility and quality of public university education that is driving students into difficulties.

Parents wind up choosing private universities over public ones because of this, Miranda said.

They then need to take on loans to pay for what they simply see as a proper education at a private university, where the costs are much higher.

"Margaret Thatcher (former British prime minister) said that education should be a right when everyone chips in," he said, bemoaning the mentality of students demanding free education.

Asked if he thought the anti-PTPTN movement would be successful, Miranda said the BN government would never abolish the PTPTN while the opposition was less predictable, noting that it took a very opportunistic approach to politics.