Friday, May 15, 2009

JPA Scholarships – Seeking A Fair & Equitable Policy

Read about all the renewed controversy over the JPA scholarships recently? Check out Kian Ming's latest take (of our many takes).

Well, in the light of the neverending controversy over the award of government scholarships by Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) of the Prime Minister's Department, DAP will be holding a forum/dialogue session to obtain feedback from:
  • aggrieved students
  • current and former local and overseas scholars
  • academics
  • the general public
The forum/dialogue will be held as follows:
JPA Scholarships – Seeking A Fair & Equitable Policy
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th May 2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 8.00 pm
The panelists will include:
  • Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor,
  • Anthony Loke Siew Fook, MP for Rasah and DAPSY Chief,
  • Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara,
  • Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad, PAS Research Centre Director and MP for Kuala Selangor
  • Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Selangor ADUN for Seri Setia
Dr Goh Cheng Teik, eminent academic, former deputy minister and interviewer for Harvard University admission programme in Malaysia will also be a special guest for the evening.

In addition, for students and scholars who are not able to make it for the forum (e.g., if you are overseas or if you live outstation, you are welcome to submit written submissions to the panel. Please write to: dapscholarship (at) rocketmail (dot) com.

Please forward details of the above forum to all parties concerned, especially those who have failed to secure scholarships despite outstanding results. We will be making a compilation of the complaints, appeals and suggestions made during the evening.
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/17/2009 12:37:00 pm

    I picked up the views from one of JPA Scholar in Australia (STAR, 17th May 2009).

    1. No government can provide scholarship to all excellent students due to budget constraint.
    2. His experience in interview, eventhough those so-called top students did not show that they were quality material.
    3. Some of the top student were not able to converse properly in Bahasa Malaysia during interview.
    4. Many scholars who received scholarships later default on their contract.
    5. Many, before completion of their study plan to stay away from public services.

    My Dearest YBs, please show to me that any government in the world can provide the scholarship to all their top students?
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5/18/2009 08:47:00 am

    Another example of blatant politicking to gain unnecessary political mileage.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marc Ng5/18/2009 08:54:00 am

    In my opinion, I feel a student's EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) plays a vital part in securing scholarships especially during interviews. Probably that is one of the reason why do we see a certain student with fewer strings of A's manage to earn a scholarship compared to his/her peers whom have better academic results.

    Therefore, I think it is important for students to attend workshops after SPM where they can improve their soft skills like public speaking, leadership, teamwork, etc. The current education system is too exam based & it's shaping students nowadays to be a memorizer rather than a thinker with a view that scoring straight A's means everything to them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shawn Tan5/18/2009 01:59:00 pm

    Cannot access my personal email at work. So, I thought that I'll paste this here instead.

    ReplyDelete
  5. George Tan5/19/2009 10:40:00 am

    Say NO to RACIAL quota for EDUCATION! Peace

    ReplyDelete