SHAH ALAM, 22 Jan: Yayasan Selangor aims to increase sponsored students to 5,500 before June 2014 after successfully sponsoring 5,000 students so far.

Its Senior Education Manager, Zahura Zakry, said that this shows that Yayasan Selangor is committee in helping underprivileged students in Selangor so that they can excel in education.

She said that the current educational patterns have changed, as schools in rural areas and suburbs have managed to place themselves among excellent schools.

She said that character building with a conducive learning environment is the choice of many parents these to decide the best school for their children.

She said that there is no issue of discrimination on whether the school is in an urban or a rural area, and instead, assistance should be given to those who qualify.

“Of course that is happening, but I need to balance it out. We also help poor urban students. The world is changing; there is no issue that says rural students are left out. Many schools have been upgraded.

“Parents are now more school savvy. They study each school to be better suited so that their children receive a more conducive learning atmosphere. So there is no issue of rural or urban areas (difference),” she told Selangor Kini today.

Meanwhile, Yayasan Selangor has also contributed scholarships to students from Government Aided Religious Schools (SABK), thus assisting the schools to organise guidance programmes to enhance student achievement.

The Yayasan Selangor Student Affairs Manager, Rosmaria Hanif Maarof, said that the influx of students entering from various schools sees a mix of student culture and personalities from students from normal stream or religious stream schools.

She said that so far, there is an increase in religious schools that are being sponsored; between six to 11 schools.