Friday, May 15, 2009

PSD Scholarship Selection Criteria

Thanks to my loyal blog reader for this article.

No review of PSD scholarship selection criteria: DG

This is quoted from here .

-----
PUTRAJAYA, Thurs:

There will be no review of the selection criteria for Public Services Department scholarships, PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said today.

He said he had not received any directives to reconsider the criteria.

Unsuccessful applicants for scholarships had until Monday to appeal, he added.

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee said on Wednesday there would be a review of the PSD criteria for giving out scholarships.

Ismail denied there was a meeting among Barisan Nasional component party leaders, the Chief Secretary to the Government and himself, as claimed by Ong.

Ismail also refuted Ong's claims on the current selection criteria.

Ong was reported to have said that the selection is based on four criteria - merit (20%), race (60%), Sabah and Sarawak citizens (10%) and students from underprivileged groups (10%).

"I think he may have gotten confused with the distribution of scholarships,” Ismail said.

"As it stands, we still very much practise a meritocracy system with the criteria: academic (75%), co-curricular activities (10%), family background (10%) and interview (5%)."

Ismail also said he had been answering questions on the PSD scholarships "forever" and reiterated that choice of courses played a crucial role on whether candidates were awarded a scholarship or not.

"For those who want to study medicine, they will have to understand that the field is extremely competitive.

"And because we have to also take family background into consideration, there may be cases where students from very poor families with fewer A's, may be awarded with the scholarship," he said.

He said since the results of the offer were announced last Friday, his department had received more than 2,000 appeals.
-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

As the selection criteria for JPA scholarships (i.e 20% for excellent students based purely on results; 60% on race; 10% for Sabah & Sarawak; 10% for the under-privileged )have been approved in the cabinet,why JPA is not implementing it accordingly ? There are too many complaints every years which are not healthy for a multi-racial Malaysia. Our Peoples' PM should act immediately and not let the students feel discriminated as such young age, they are our future generation.JPA should just give the 20% scholarships to excellent students based purely on results and not to bring in other nonsense now !

Shawn Tan said...

I think that the main problem is a 'sense of entitlement' and that of 'perceived unfairness'. Seriously, if you want to get a scholarship, you really need more than just excellent results. That has always been the case since a long time ago. I like to call it the +1 factor. Can read some of my thoughts here Chen Chow. A lot of times, most of the people who got rejected, deserve to be rejected.

Anonymous said...

Whilst I may agree to some of Shaun's thoughts on the selection criteria, I still feel that the 20%
should strictly be given based on results only to avoid the 'perceived unfairness'and leave no room for subjectivities.I totally disagree with what you have said that those who got rejected, deserve to be rejected. Please bear in mind that no one deserve to be rejected especially the excellent students.Some may not be well-rounded because of family backgrounds , financial reasons and etc. I am sure that with the scholarships given to them, they can be trained to be all-rounded easily as compared to those of average results. They have already provened that despite the extenuating circumstances, they have achieved excellent results.So,the 20% SHARE should strictly be given to them without the slightess doubts.Please be more realistic.JPA should just publish the list of recipients to avoid the unnecessary debates on the issue which are not healthy for a multi-racial Malaysia where everything must be transparent. Peoples' PM please act accordingly on your 1 Malaysia !

Anonymous said...

I have been studied about the incident for JPA years and years and only this year, I guess I have better idea of the ways the officers choose the right students for JPA.
Most of the time you don't really know the students personally, only those who meet the students can put down their remarks, if one officer is wrong then how come all of them are making the same conclusion. As I can see those 12A1, 11A1 and further A1 students who are rejected by the officers, really sorry about that. It is very cleared that students who applied JPA are not allowed to change course and nasty parents even demand the government to place whatever course they wish. This is funny.
To my observation, I noticed that only the right students for the right courses will be successful. For example, medi students, if someone is extremely short and plumb, what do you think about her/his future as a doctor? she/He needs special design operation table and so on, it is very hurting but still have to accept it. For law students, if you talk very softly, shy and also not outspoken, and you are the officers what is your decision for those students? Those JPA students are representing Malaysia. That can't be denied. I may not be 100% correct but still can take into consideration to my point of view.
Not only JPA scholarship can help you, there are some others which is good as well, further more, as parents, we also need some minimum of responsibilities to give our children studies if the government can't give. If you have 6 children, the most JPA will give one of them and the rest you still have to decide where to get the scholarship, or from you own pocket. Otherwise just go to the farm to work.

I.Love.Malaysia said...

Government sucks. End of story :)