KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry will form a committee to find a new model to replace the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday (Oct 29).

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said that the PTPTN had conducted several roundtable discussions, workshops and meetings with various parties from December 2018 to March 2019.

He added that several views were tabled via the people's consultation paper, which was conducted from May 16 to June 13 this year.

"Based on the consultation, the PTPTN has identified that the current model is problematic and unsustainable. The committee will involve the participation of stakeholders including economists, members from the government, as well as the Opposition," he said in his winding up speech of his ministry for Budget 2020.

Maszlee added that the study from the consultation also found that 68% of PTPTN borrowers were within the bottom 40% income group (B40) and the government was committed to helping them.

He also noted that PTPTN was currently in the midst of studying the factors behind the late payment of borrowers in order to find a mechanism to help the group.

"At the same time, about 49.31% of borrowers are students from private higher learning institutions.

"Aside from that, the findings will take some time as some data - including the matching data with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) - are not complete.

"This has caused us to contact the relevant agencies to get the necessary data and it will take a long time to resolve," he said.