A number of Solomon Islands Government (SIG) sponsored students studying overseas have criticized the Members of Parliament (MP) tertiary scholarship scheme that is currently being practiced.
They said that many students with high grade point averages (GPA) are left out in such scheme and they see this as another ignorance of equal benefit sharing.
A student studying in Fiji who wished to remain anonymous said, most of the eligible students that are not given a scholarship for this year are being turned back by their MPs when they asked to be sponsored by the government through their constituency’s discretion.
“Many of our students with high GPAs went to ask assistance from their respective MPs but they were told that they did not vote for them (MPs) and the priority is given to their voters only,” the students told the Solomon Star yesterday.
Another student also raised similar sentiments.
“The government should just increase the number of awards rather than giving MPs such a discretion. Such practice is just a slap on the face to the eligible academics,” the student said.
They also highlighted that those with good GPAs should not have scholarship problem, they should be the ones to be prioritized.
Efforts to get comments from the National Training Unit (NTU) concerning this matter yesterday, was unsuccessful.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
