Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email After Dr S.Subra suggested automatic scholarships, and many disgruntled SPM achievers gathered at Perak and Selangor, PSD comes out with explanation. How nice if this explanation is given earlier. It would answer many questions.
Now it is revealed that minimum of 13A1s is the cutoff point for academic criteria. In others, all the 140 students who complained earlier don’t stand a chance. Not qualified la! PSD should make the criteria public as soon as the closing date for application is reached. This will ensure students and parents would not wait anxiously and can make alternative plans. In fact, data on number of A1 achievers should be read from MES and matched with the number of scholarships available. In this way, it is possible to know how many A1s is needed to qualify for academic criteria. Probably, if 2000 places are available, PSD can pick the top 4000 or 5000, and do their shortlisting from there.
Secondly, the list of students who are successful should be made public, together with their academic results, interview results, and medical profession interview results. At the moment, students have to log in to find out their results. I think the results should be published in major newspapers and on the websites. This is a form of appreciation of the students, and at the same time provide transparency in terms of student selection.
Thirdly the idea of getting ridiculous numbers of As is becoming out of control. Getting 10As is meaningless nowadays. 10 years ago, getting 5As was considered good! Now, the 5As is not worth talking about since there are many many more students who have 6,7,8,…up to 20 A1s walking around! But is the quality there? Is the student who gets A1 in Maths now as good as the one got A1 in Maths 10 years ago? Is a 10A1 achiever now as good as 10A1 achiever a decade ago? Are all those As a fallacy? I think its time to limit the number of subjects to maximum 12 or 15 to ensure there’s no manipulation and unnecessary pressure for students to out-perform previous achievements.
PSD has said it chose “cream of the crop” this time. Well, its time to prove it. Hope it does not backfire on them when a 8A1 student is exposed as a recipient.
Anyhow, for this round of scholarship, PSD mentioned that 900 are normal Malaysians, while 1100 were the privileged ones. According to them, the number of scholarships is increasing, but can’t cope with the ever-increasing number of top achievers.
PSD: High-achievers have to compete for scholarshipssource
By HARIATI AZIZAN and
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government cannot afford to offer all high-achievers a scholarship for overseas studies, said the Public Services Department (PSD).
“The most common misunderstanding is that academic excellence will guarantee them scholarship. However, the fact is that many excellent students have to compete for a limited number of scholarships and those awarded will be the ‘cream of the crop’,” said PSD Director-General Tan Sri Ismail Adam in an e-mail interview with Sunday Star.
This past week saw many disgruntled high achievers who had their application for PSD scholarships under its Foreign Degree Programme rejected.
Only 2,000 scholarships were available for studies abroad but a total of 15,217 applications were received, out of which 7,253 were called for interview.
PSD advised those who had failed there to apply for a scholarship under its local programme. A total of 10,000 scholarships for local programmes will be on offer online next month, but many students, especially the non-Malays, are worried about their chances.
On Friday, MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said all students who score 10A1s and above in the SPM examination should automatically be offered PSD scholarships after some 140 top students who failed to clinch a scholarship under the Foreign Degree Programme approached him for support.
Ismail, however, stressed that scholarships are a privilege provided by the government rather than a right, highlighting how the growing number of students obtaining straight As in their SPMover the years has made it tougher for the Government to select deserving recipients for PSD scholarships.
According to a PSD source, the trend of students doing more than 12 subjects for their SPM has also pushed the academic criteria up.
This year, for example, although the criteria set was lower, in the selection process, the committee had to push their academic criteria to a minimum of 13A1 in their selection process.
Subramaniam, who is also Human Resources Minister, said the lack of transparency in the awarding of scholarships was a problem, as some students alleged bias towards bumiputra students.
PSD denied the allegations saying 1,100 scholarships for overseas study went to bumiputras and 900 to non-bumiputras this year.
Ismail also said that students who obtained 9As in the 2007 SPM examination were eligible for an automatic local scholarship to pursue Form 6 right up to a degree at a local university or institution of higher learning.
