THE National Training Unit (NTU) Scholarship Budget continues to witness a slight decrease in its annual budget allocation from $293.6 million dollars in 2021 to $293.4 this year.
Minister for Education & Human Resources Development, Lanelle Olandrea Tanangada revealed this in Parliament Thursday, when she delivered her speech during the debate of the 2022 Appropriation Bill.
The Minister said this reduction is due mainly to the streamlining of the activities between the Solomon Islands Tertiary Education and Skills Authority (SITESA) and NTU to be more cost effective.
“It also reflects an increased number of students who were offered scholarships to study in the country versus students who are sent overseas to study.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic – it has been decided that new scholarship holders from 2021 and this year would undertake courses at the SINU, USP SI Campus and other locally based post-secondary learning institutions,” she said.
She said the decrease in the scholarship budget also reflects her Ministry’s initiative to reduce costs of students who would be sent to overseas universities to study by allowing more students to study at our local institutions.
“In brief, as we all know we are in unprecedented times and we have been repatriating students from high-risk countries in 2020, the Ministry has decided that scholarships will only be awarded for In Country Institutions until it is safe to send our students overseas.
“The programs offered in the scholarships do provide for our pre-service students who are also F6 and F7 students.
“In the light of scholarship offered and change of program that was raised by the Leader of Independent and Member for North New Georgia, I wish to inform this honorable house that changes of program is very restricted due to the nature of the training demand of skills set that is being addressed through a SIG funded scholarship,” she said.
She said the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) Scholarship funding arrangement is specifically offered for programmes that are deemed vital to support labor market demand needs of the Country.
“Scholarship offers and awards are intended for candidates of programs that are reflected in the priority-training plan.
“Therefore, the selection criteria are very restrictive and competitive. All students, including private-sponsored students are given equal opportunity to apply for scholarships.
“However, their current program of study must be reflected in the training plan, as an appropriate program and condition for scholarship funding,” she concluded.
By FOLLET JOHN
Newsroom, Honiara
