Saturday, March 28, 2009
Allocation of JPA scholarships
Read this Bernama piece in the Star today about 20% of PSD scholarships being set aside for bumiputra students in Sabah and Sarawak. The Minster in question, Bernard Dompok, Minister in the PM's office said that "under the new PSD scholarship scheme, 20 percent or 400 of the 2,000 scholarships offered this year were for excellent students and 60 per cent or 1,200 scholarships were for bumiputra and non-bumiputra SPM leavers nationwide. He said the remaining 10 percent were for disabled students who excelled in their studies." Not really sure how the 20% of 'excellent' students are different from the other SPM students elsewhere except perhaps to say that these 'excellent' students may have better extra curricular records and activities than those who scored better academically. Let me dig up more information on the changes in the JPA scholarships policy and write another lengthier post later.
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28 comments:
Again, one asks: Why give out scholarships to young people who had just completed SPM, rather than to those who completed STPM?
yes i totally agree with casey. stpm students work their butt off knowing how difficult it is to enter public uni's. shouldn't we justify their efforts by rewarding them scholarships as well rather than giving out to spm students. spm standard is like kacang la.
Some SPM scholarship holders may not excel in their subsequent pre-U studies too. I think certain percentage (like 50%) of scholarships should be reserved for those with excellent STPM, Cambridge A-Level or IB results. At least JPA would have the benefit of selecting those who perform well in both exam. After all, it is the pre-U entrance examination result that is more important in determining one's acceptance by reputable universities.
I agree.
I think that they should have allocated some scholarship to STPM/Alevel holders.
STPM/ALevels is more difficult than SPM. The scholarship officers can also treat this as another strong indicator of academic excellence, especially appropriate choosing the best people for difficult courses like medicine, law, etc. Furthermore, they can save money on giving out pre-u scholarship. Seriously, some of the pre-u programmes take about as much time as the STPM.
And yeah. The reputable universities admissions are so selective already - giving one more indicator regarding maturity and writing ability to the scholarship officers.
Eh. I think I'm repeating what Anonymous (1) said.
We have 13 states,that means if we want to share equally then it should be 7.69% per state.Why is sabah and sarawak so special?
Anyway,scholarship should not be divided according to states but given the best qualified(whatever rating system you are using).So what if they are all from Perlis?they are malaysians too aren't they?
i think that this jpa thing has been blown out of proportion.. there are other scholarship awarding bodies (government linked, private companies, charitable foundations, foreign entities).. however, most of our spm leavers behave as if the jpa is the be-all-end-all of scholarships.. i blame this squarely on the school guidance counselors who do not seem to be doing a very good job of informing the students of their choices after school..
as for giving scholarships to stpm leavers, again, it is the prerogative of jpa to decide whom they want to give scholarships to.. there are other people who are willing to give scholarships to stpm leavers too.. students just need to know where to look..
however, there is another viewpoint here.. the people who do know where to look, don't always tell others about it because it would increase their chances of getting the scholarship if less people fought for it..
Shawn Tan, it's "prerogative of jpa to decide whom they want to give scholarships to"? It's YOUR tax dollars, goddammit. If people like you throw up your hands and say "let the faceless men up there do whatever they like with my money and let's forget it", what future does the country hold?
People in this country keep forgetting where the government's money come from, and why the people are entitled to know how it's spent, pretty sad.
There are scholarship for STPM leavers and SPM leaver. There are even scholarship for taking STPM.
Why JPA scholars are more popular? This is due to the fact that JPA offer more places for medicine and dentistry as opposed to other scholarship programme.
However, JPA scholarship is used as a tool for social engineering where the recipient will be tasked to uplift the area social status. Thus some points are given for students coming from rural areas.
Reading the comments left on this space make me roll about in laughter! Most of you live in a tiny bubble thinking that the only way to make ends meet is to score on paper without having the need to work on your socio-environment.
No wonder most Asian students, despite graduating with an honours degree/masters/PHD/(whatever nonsense), find it difficult to compete with other developed nationals. It's the way they think, their mentality.
Would you think less of a person if he/she didn't score top marks, but is highly intelligent and exceptional in social settings as supposed to someone who aces through, without a hint of social skill?
Let me tell you something:- After working in a highly paid professional job for many years locally and internationally, i am ashamed to say that our graduates have a long way to go in terms of maturity. A lot of our local grads have little or no social/decision making skills, which makes them poor leaders.
And you know what else that means? No chance of career progression. It also means that they would most probably be stuck in the same position for many years, or, will not last long in their job, or, would spend the rest of their lives as bitter workers, hating each waking moment.
They will go on wondering why their work isn't getting as much recognition as their colleagues, when the answer is blatantly simple, really- "it's because you have nothing else to offer but your boring self. You are robotic, mundane, and people dislike listening to you.
You fear change and stick to the safe option of scoring your A's because that's all you know how to do. Go Away! Shooh! Bring the interesting, Obama-like leader in!"
For goodness sakes, scholarships should be reserved for all-rounders and not to be given to pure nerds with no hope of survival in the real world.
Just wanted to share my views o the question above: "We have 13 states,that means if we want to share equally then it should be 7.69% per state.Why is sabah and sarawak so special?"
First of all, anonymous, Sarawak and Sabah takes up nearly 40% of Malaysia's population. On top of that, at least 75% of Malaysia's wealth is generated from Sarawak and Sabah's natural resources. I believe they have every right to be treated "fairly" by taking back their share of wealth and improving their standard of living through educational opportunities. Besides, how much longer should these two states be oppressed for? Proper remuneration from the 2 states should be given priority to it's people instead of handing it over to their colonizing federal government in the west. I hope to see more of this in future. I look forward to the independence of Sarawak and Sabah:- Away from the Malaysian federal government who treats them like second class citizens.
Dear Coltz,
Yes, it is YOUR taxpayerdollars, but it doesnt mean that the scholarship goes to YOU. Most of us who dont get scholarships (yes, there are bumiputera's who dont get scholarships...gasp...and another gasp....bumiputeras writing good english) are doing well, and are not bitter about it. There are many options other than JPA, and not all local postgrads are bad. If you're really good, u'll shine anywhere
hello. im a person that just finished my A level end of last year and now planning for the next step.
i've a few questions here and hope that u could help me out.
1, where can i get courses like health science or occupational health and safety within malaysia?
2, or is there any twinning program for this?
i really hope you could help me out as im long confused with these. thank you.
To Anon about East Malaysia:
I don't deny that a fair share of attention and progress for Sabah and Sarawak are long due, but please stop pulling figures from nowhere. 40%?! No, Sabah and Sarawak together barely make it past 20% of the population, check the numbers. 75% of wealth?! Last time I checked most of Malaysia's export are still semiconductors (albeit low-tech procedures), and most of those are peninsula-based. Contrary to popular belief that most of Malaysia's wealth comes from oil, it doesn't. In fact, petroleum doesn't generate much more export wealth than palm oil.
That is not to say Sabah and Sarawak is not grossly underinvested; the federal government IS systematically ignoring and exploiting the two states, and that
SHOULD change. But at least get your figures right if you want to argue for justice.
The Anon arguing for bumis... I won't even go there, check your arguments, you completely missed the point.
If you come to East Malaysia, you will realise that the Malays are not the Bumis, but the rest, e.g. Iban, etc are. So if the government is really keen to help the Bumis, then they should allocate more to East Malaysians.
the blog is very interesting to read
When it comes to whatever the government is doing, the question of tax payer is brought up; when these guys don't work for government after completed their studies-silence !
Do you not pay tax if you don't work for the government? I pay my tax every time I buy anything in Malaysia. Or earn any income, or work for any company. Comeon, face it, unless you're being totally unproductive, either your parents or you have paid taxes at one point or another.
Scholarships are meant only for STPM! Not spm.
I think this move is to ensure matrikulasi and mrsm students get everything...simple logic
Well..SPM students are more naive, ignorance and gullible.
Little do they know that they are swallowing baits with hidden hooks or walking into traps.
Scholarship must be politicized for the sake of UMNO-BN to stay in power!
Tell any Iban, Kadazan, etc..this:
"Scholarship bagus bagus bagus"
Undi UMNO-BN!Ada scholarship, ada biasiswa, bagus, bagus.."
All of them must be "dikapitalist dan dikorporatkan" di UK and USA.
why you like them to be 'communist' and 'socialist' in ROC?
Bersatu Bersedia Berkhidmat
Bersatu kita bersatu
Dengan setia berganding bahu
Jiwa teguh berpadu
Kita rumpun melayu.
Bersama kita bersama
Mendukung hasrat semua
Berjasa pada bangsa
Agama dan negara.
Lambang kita yang gagah
Dipandang mulia dan indah
Bersatu, Bersetia, Berkhidmat
Cogankatanya……
UMNO terus mara
Untuk rakyat malaysia.
NO! NO! NO!!We don't want them to be communists and socialists!!
We want them to be "dikapitalist dan dikorporatkan" in Malaysia's own soil.
Better dead than red!!
Better dead than red!!
Better dead than red!!
Capitalists of the world unite!
Unite! Unite! Unite!
Let our victory march tremble the workers and make them cower in fear!
Capitalism democracy is the best form of government that Westerners bestowed on all mankind in this world.
For Freedom, liberty and justice for all mankind!!
I just got my SPM results... scored many A's.
I am from Sabah.. I am glad that the government is giving scholarship (more allocations) to Sabah and Sarawak because they are very very poor. I pray that my classmates who are poor will get the scholarship. and I am sure that they will obtain.
I did not apply for the schlarship because my father can afford my education. He is a native Sabahan, a product of the JPA scholarship many years ago.
Do not belittle the present government.
This "anonymous" is so cynical.. "Reading the comments left on this space make me roll about in laughter!............
Dont look down on we Asians.. just look at what you have contributed to the society.. lets see how many Asians have you assist in improving their status quo...
So Chenchow, if you are reading this.
Better remember who owns you now.
Who is your master?
Don't forget for the rest of your lifte that you swallowed the scholarship bait.
Who owns Yong Teck Lee?
London School of Economics?
Gotta print out more $$dollar$$$ and spend them in acquiring more timber resources.
why ehre to many people are opposing that scholarships are given to young SPM.
Agree that JPA Scholarships should be mainly given out to STPM/A-level/equivalent students. Many SPM school leavers do not fare well after they got the JPA scholarship and went to the designated college.
By awarding the scholarship at a later stage, a higher proportion of recipients would be of high quality and hence they deserve the scholarship.
From what I heard, there are special cases of post-STPM students who were awarded JPA scholarship as part of the 20% excellent students. These are the students that performed well in STPM/A-level/equivalent but did not take the SPM or did not do well in the SPM.
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