Dear Editor – I wish to contribute on the general discussion on MPs scholarship awards. Basically, I totally disagreed with the negative views and opinions expressed by other writers on the subject of MPs scholarships.
Firstly, those individuals have very narrow minded views, they don’t understand the bigger picture of this vital academic initiatives offered by MPs.
In comparison, this is one of the best gifts of MPs to the people of Solomon Islands as compared to other MPs benefits and entitlements.
This is not a waste of tax payers’ money because UN Millennium goals namely Education and Health are ranked as the number one contributing factor to the economic growth and prosperity of any country.
Singapore became one of those prosperous economy as a result of its educational strategies implemented by their past wise political leaders.
Therefore, we must applaud our MPs for taking on this vital high educational initiative.
Furthermore, it is very irresponsible to put a blanket statement that students who have received PMs scholarships do not meet the required merit.
Mind you, you might not believe that there are students with much better academic results in the MPs lists as compared to those who received NTC scholarship awards.
Furthermore, if you are talking about justice for everyone, where does it fits in the current NTC scholarship structure and selection criteria.
It is better for MPs to participate somewhere in the scholarship awards structure to be just and fair because they represent the whole population and not NTC individuals who might to some extend only represents the minority groups such as schools, churches, friends, relatives etc.
We should be delighted to have such an opportunity from our MPs because when the current scholarship system has limitation, you can get the opportunity from your MPs.
My only recommendation on MPs scholarship is to strengthen its selection criteria by aligning with the University entry requirements such as the applying student must have at least an Offer of Acceptance for Placement from the relevant universities.
Having a university placement offer indicates the student’s academic results are meet.
John Diau
Honiara
