If helping university graduates by delaying the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayment is an offence, then Najib Abdul Razak is willing to take the blame.

The former prime minister said this in a Facebook post to counter allegations by Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching earlier today that the previous administration was partly to blame for the drop in PTPTN repayments this year.

"They (Pakatan Harapan) are the ones who promised to abolish the PTPTN and instigated students not to repay, but now I'm being blamed?

"She's blaming me because students did not start to repay as soon as six months after graduating.

"Yes, I admit. I was the one who passed the policy where graduates only have to start making repayments on the 13th month after the completion of their studies," he wrote.

This, he said was his government's way of assisting students, he said.

"Was I wrong to do that? Can't we help the youths?

"If this is Najib's fault, I accept it. What are those who are 'comfortable' in Putrajaya doing to help these students?" he said.

Teo, in responding to a question by Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin in Dewan Rakyat today, had said that it was the BN government which had extended the grace period for repayment of PTPTN loan from six months to 12 months.

Thus, it was unfair to just blame Harapan for the drop in repayments, to the coalition's removal of the loan defaulters from the immigration blacklist, she had said.

She had revealed that only RM817.65 million was collected between June and September this year, compared to RM1.324 billion collected during the same period last year.

Teo, however, pointed out that the loan repayments had started dropping as early as January this year - way before the change in federal power on May 9.

Harapan had promised in its election manifesto to postpone PTPTN loan repayments for those earning below RM4,000 a month.

However, this policy has yet to be enforced as the government continues to work out a mechanism for its implementation.