IPOH: In the past four months, only three Indian school-leavers from Perak applied for Dermasiswa (education aid) to study at recognised institutions of higher learning.

The three constituted less than one per cent of the 378 students (including 205 Malays and 170 Chinese) who applied for, and received, aid to pursue certificate, foundation, matriculation, diploma, advanced diploma and degree courses.

Speaking to the New Straits Times here yesterday, state executive councillor Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the state government was perplexed by the unusually low number of applications from the Indian community.

Dr Mah, who is the Health, Local Government, Consumer Affairs, Environment, Transport and Non-Muslim Affairs Committee chairman, said the low figure could be due to poor publicity about the aid programme for Perak-born students.

"I believe many in the Indian community do not know about the aid programme. But, this can be rectified. The state government will work with Tamil newspaper organisations and others to publish information about the aid scheme."

The amount of aid which is given out is RM300 for students pursuing certificate, matriculation and foundation courses, RM500 for diploma courses, RM1,000 for advanced diploma and non-professional degree courses, and RM1,200 for professional degree courses.

Since the aid amount is nominal, students are not required to repay it.