[EDIT: (18/9/04) Well, they Didnt print it! ;) haha but actually i wanna say the stuff written here was at that early point when i still didnt want to accept it. Things have changed somewat i think..ermm loads that i said here was baseless. ;) for example, Indon medical unis are better than Msian unis, i think. (Dunno bout private though..) Stuff lidat. Jus take all with a pinch of salt k? too lazy to comment more..]
Hey. OK, actually i wrote this thing yesterday. Its meant for a newspaper write-in thingy. (oKay, so my vocab is shit!) Just incase they dun print it, i dun want it to get lost in space n all, so paste it here where it shall remain forEva! (what the hell?! eheh) It is my thoughts n feelings, so its not really out of place. Im just not really editing it so keep in mind dat it was meant for that newspaper write-in thingy (eheheh), ok?! hehe :)
JPA horror!
I would like to comment about the recent issue of the scholarships offered by JPA. Year after year after year, the government offers the nations high-achievers full scholarships to study overseas. This year the government ofcourse also offered scholarships to deserving students. The only difference? Many students who acchieved 10 1As or even 11 1A's, were denied scholarships. There were some who were at first, able to celebrate getting the reknowned JPA scholarship, only to discover that the government had sent them to countries like Indonesia to further their studies!
Imagine their shock and horror at such news! All right, many of you would say that they should be grateful that they had atleast been offered a scholarship, but wouldn't it be better for these students to just study in Malaysia, if Indonesia was the only other option? I mean, the whole purpose of the government offering scholarships, was so that Malaysias smartest would be able to obtain a better education at countries such as UK, Australia, USA, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, Korea, Japan, and so on. But not to countries which are not even as advanced as Malaysia! Furthermore, the civil unrest in countries such as Indonesia is well known. Would it be wise to send our country's future to such places, only to endanger their lives? I am sure Malaysia could offer so much more to these students than Indonesia can. Why can the government not, offer these students scholarships to study in Malaysia then?
Why has this problem suddenly arised this year? Because of the sudden rise in the number of high achievers? And why has that happened? Because, this year, there are two batches of good students as opposed to one. This is the year with the first batch of PTS students, the students who skipped Standard4. There were only PTS students joining this batch, without any going out. Which means, this year has the usual number of good students every year generally has, plus the extra number of good students from the PTS batch! And what did the government do to accomodate this extra amount of good students? Increase the allocations for the government scholarships?! No! Instead, the government decreased the allocations by about 300 students. Did the government not foresee this situation arising? Just like how they failed to foresee the increase in the amount of students signing up for Lower6, resulting in the PTS students not being eligible to register? And what will happen to the allocations 2 years later when the batch of students loss a number of bright students to the earlier batch but did not have any joining them, because the government stopped the PTS?
Students are constantly told that they have to study hard to obtain excellent grades so that they might be awarded government scholarships to study in countries which offer what Malaysia cannot. Better and more advanced facilities,a different way of life and approach to studying, and so much more. These very student did their very best and obtained straight 1A's. And yet many of them are either not offered any scholarships, or offered to places that do not even surpass Malaysia in term of quality of life, and quality of education. What more could they have done? Even the students who obtained straight A's should be considered highly for the scholarships. They are after all still the nations very best.
Surfacing recently are also reports of JPA scholars who have already returned after completing their studies in countries such as Japan and Indonesia, only to discover that their degrees are not recognised in Malaysia. And it was even stated in the agreement that the government would sent its scholars to Universities which were recognised. Would history repeat itself?
If you take note of the scholars of the pass few years, you will see that previously, students with 10 1A's were guranteed JPA scholarships. And most of these students were sent to countries like UK. What a great leap the country took in one year. From sending 10 1A scorers to UK in one year, to sending them to Indonesia in the next.
Of course i understand that sufficient funds may be the problem. Shouldn't the government have foreseen these and taken action? For example, could the government not, offer the scholarships, but only to support the students overseas, and not during their pre-U courses in Malaysia. Especially if the students families can afford to pay for their 2-year pre-U courses here. This should not be too hard for many, especially since the government is going to cover their expenses during their tertiery education. Or maybe the government can offer partial scholarships to some(some, not all), paying for the course fees and not the living expenses. This way, the funds could be stretched to accomodate more scholars. Also, I think that the government should consider getting the scholars to pay back part, if not all of what was awarded them during their 10 year bond with the government, by cutting a small part of their pay. This way, the funds could be circulated.
I hope that the government will come up with a way to resolve this mess. If not, it seems that we can only blame our fate of being born in the wrong year.
Hopeful Scale
hehehe. so if u guys see this printed in the papers, its me lei. hehe. :) hopefully lo...
Oh n, some small parts of this i might not feel 100%. Some were to emphasize my point. Whatever. Anyways, comments are oh so welcomed! :)
Its 5am! Ciaozzzzzz!
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