Low-income Rule For Scholarships Unfair

[Stephanie]

Low-income Rule For Scholarships UnfairCongratulations to all the recent recipients of the prestigious JPA or MARA overseas scholarships! Based on press report, many successful recipients are from families earning less than RM1,500 per month. According to the criteria given by the authority, these recipients are supposedly given priority over those with higher income even with better academic credentials. It is always true and kind for taking extra care of these poor and deserving applicants. However, it is not right and acceptable if it is done at the expense of other students.

It is indisputable that not all parents earning more than RM1,500 can afford to send their children to overseas universities. In some cases those parents with earning power greater than RM1,500 cannot even send their children into the local public universities. I doubted how these children can fulfill their dreams and ambition in pursuing critical courses like dentistry, medicine or even engineering.

Students with excellent academic results should be recognized and accorded impartial and objective assessment to identify their true potential.

If there are insufficient scholarships, then efforts must be made to have additional allocations or make the selection process more stringent. The basis of rejection based on income disqualification is not a wise one. I am sure there will be other effective way to help those families with low income. Although some may say that income is not the only factor that contributes to the selection applicants, however it is very obvious that MCA is taking this factor seriously and has helped a number of applicants to gain their scholarships.

The selection process should rightly be made transparent and as objective as possible. The government has since recognized the urgency of increasing human capital investment under the Ninth Malaysian Plan. In this connection, the implementation of the policies must not only be fair but seen to be fair to all, irrespective of their social economic standing to prevent a brain drain. Prevention is certainly better than cure.

[JetLee0510]

u r rite. And I agree aith u.

But every system has its pros n cons.. we cant get a perfect one. tot of giving all scholarships all to those best in academic? then wat happen? try to think in another way round, I meant, taking wat I said to u in a sarcastic manner..

[sAmurAi-X]

As I have said before, our government should grant the scholarships based on admissions into top notches worldwide instead. I'm pretty much sure that such alternative will be more fair and square to those who are really meritorious ( esp STPM and A-levels' students) and hence will benefit all the Malaysians nationwide regardless of status or race. In the long run, this could even curb the phenomenon of brain drain in Malaysia. Isn't it better??

I have already created a thread on criteria for scholarships.