PSD Scholarships

Scholarships: PSD must tell students why they were left out
Being the third best student in Penang (12 1As) and among the top 100 scorers in Malaysia, I find it absurd that the Public Service Department has rejected my application for a scholarship.
Being active in extra-curricular activities and topping exams regularly in my school, which is one of the country’s premier schools, the least I deserve from the PSD is an explanation. I am a school tennis player, vice-president of my school’s Red Cross Society and, for your information, I even received an award from the king for my contribution to society. I am also a school prefect and a committee member of clubs in my school. It was a real surprise for me to find out that individuals whose results were no better than mine and who hardly had any extra-curricular achievements received the scholarship.
BENJAMIN LIM, Penang

Scholarships: It’s not fair
I finished my SPM examination last year. I am an ex-student of Methodist Girls School, Ipoh. Recently, I applied for the PSD scholarship, but sadly, PSD rejected my application. I am one of the top scorers in my school since I got 10 1As in my examination. I even scored an A1 for my GCE-O (1119). I was an active student in terms of co-curricular activities.I meet all the requirements underlined by PSD. In fact, I have the maximum requirement. I am 100 per cent confident that I did very well during my interview. I didn’t even get the university of my choice in the Unit Pusat Universiti application. What went wrong? What upsets me most is that there are students who didn’t even score straight As in their SPM examination but still get scholarship offers. I rang the PSD hotline to seek an explanation but the officers failed to give me a satisfactory answer. It was frustrating for me when I realised that the only option I had was to go for matriculation. I have appealed for the scholarship and I hope the PSD will give it due consideration. It proves that no matter how good you are, there is a possibility that you might not get what you have worked for.
S.A.K., Ipoh

I think I know the answer for the above 2 applicants. Maybe they should ask their parents or relatives, surely someone will also know what I know.
Reading: Malaysia 2007 - export brains, import brawns

Tags: PSD, Public Service Department, Scholarship, School, Unit Pusat Universiti, SPM