SHAH ALAM, March 20 — The Selangor government is taking in 10,000 students this year for its Smart Selangor Free Tuition Programme, up from 6,000 last year.

State executive councillor for Youth and Sports Development and Human Resource Development Mohd Khairuddin Othman attributed the increase in intake to cooperation between the Pakatan Harapan federal and state governments.

"In the previous administration the state government could not enter schools because it was under the previous Barisan Nasional administration’s purview. Now that we can enter the schools, we plan on using the schools as tuition centres after schooling hours.

"This allows us to increase our intake to assist impoverished and underperforming students from 6,000 students to 10,000 students this year. We are also adding one more subject which is Geography,” Mohd Khairuddin, who is also Paya Jaras assemblyman, told the state assembly today.

Currently, the programme offers students free tuition in English, Bahasa Melayu, Mathematics and History.

Another reason behind the increase in student intake this year is due to the state’s study last year, which found that around 14,000 SPM takers this year has the potential to fail based on their Form 4 results.

School data on household income and school performance will determine whether or not a student is eligible for the programme.

The new intake is expected to begin next month.