Scholarships: PSD yet to respond to MIC

High achieving Hemanthaa is among the students anxiously waiting for the result of their appeal.

KUALA LUMPUR: High achiever P Hemanthaa of Seremban and many other students are still waiting for the Public Service Department (PSD) to respond to their appeal against its rejection of their scholarship applications.

Hemanthaa’s name is on the list that MIC submitted to PSD about two weeks ago in an attempt to get it to review its decision on top SPM scorers who either failed to get scholarship awards or got them for courses they were not interested in. There are 219 names on the list.

A MIC source said many of the affected parents were worried because universities would begin their academic sessions soon.

Hemanthaa, who studied at SMK Tuanku Jaafar in Seremban, scored 10 A+ and one A in her SPM. She also excelled in sports and was among the 13 women who participated in the Malaysia-America Soccer Exchange last year. She also played hockey at state level and was the school champion in chess and badminton.

She applied for a scholarship to do medicine, but PSD instead offered to sponsor her for a Diploma in English at Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim.

Her father, Padmanathan, told FMT he was confident MIC would make things right but admitted that he was anxious for a reply from PSD.

“Almost every day I call the local MIC leader, but until today there has been no positive answer,” he said.

Padmanathan sells health products for a living and his wife teaches in primary school. Hemanthaa is their eldest child.

MIC vice-president SK Devamany told FMT that the party had set up a committee to fight for Hemanthaa and others like her.

“We’ve had six meetings with PSD officers and the related ministry,” he said.

Devamany said MIC was also trying to help 170 students who scored seven A+ and less by recommending them for 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) scholarships.

“We hope that at least 100 students will get 1MDB scholarships,” he said.