STUDENTS sponsored by the government can now go back to their countries of study, now that international borders have opened, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD), said on Wednesday.
But there are requirements.
First, the National Scholarship Division has granted such students permission to defer their studies because of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced between 2020 and 2022, Permanent Secretary Franco Rodie said yesterday.
Secondly, such students must reactivate their scholarships with the National Scholarship Division/SITESA. Thirdly, the students must possess a valid visa or study permit and fourthly students must have made prior arrangements with their universities that they would be returning this year.
Permanent Secretary Rodie was responding to reports that the government is no longer sending undergraduate students to the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) to do medicine.
“There are currently eight (8) undergraduate students still hanging around in Honiara since returning to the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were doing medicine at UPNG but the National Training Unit (NTU) is no longer sending them back there, according to the report.
But Dr. Rodie said students sponsored by the Government can go back to their countries of study if they had fulfilled certain requirements.
“As International boarders have opened, students who are sponsored by SIG are allowed to return to the countries of study. So yes, if the eight (8) students mentioned have deferred their studies (and that the National Scholarship Division has granted them the deferment) because of the Covid-19 pandemic situation experienced between 2020 and 2022, they can travel to PNG this year – as long as they have reactivated their scholarships with the National Scholarship Division/SITESA.
“Also, it is a requirement that each of the eight students must have a valid visa or study permit and had made prior arrangement with the PNG-based Universities that they would be returning this year,” Dr. Rodie said.
It is unclear whether these requirements also apply to students studying in countries other than Papua New Guinea.
Solomon Islands students are also undertaking studies in other Pacific Island countries such as Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu. Others are studying in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
By Alfred Sasako
