I read with interest the letters on the education quota issue. The quota system is outdated and has bad side effects as highlighted in the other letters.

It would be better to change it to a merit-based system for all university places. This would bring out the best human talent in the country to be developed into world-class professionals.

However, there would be calls for assistance to improve certain communities. This assistance could come in the form of financial assistance (for fees, books, etc.), and extra coaching.

These assistance schemes could be community-funded schemes, with the Malay community getting some form of assistance from the government.

The above, in my opinion, would be a more acceptable way to restructure the current higher education system to better develop our country's top talent.

Finally, one area of improvement would be to refocus the teaching staff on academic excellence and research, at the same time, review the salary schemes to ensure a sufficient number of talented people are attracted into the teaching profession.

Investing in education is investing in our future! This is even more critical in a knowledge-based economy!