Poser over 11A+ scorer's failure to win PSD scholarship

The government has been urged to explain why Teh Xin Yi, who scored 11A+ in the Sijil Pelajan Malaysia examinations, has failed to obtain a Public Services Department (PSD) scholarship as promised.

The Ipoh lass had applied for the PSD's Special Programme to study engineering in Japan, South Korea, France and Germany (JKPJ).

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said Teh's failure to receive a scholarship contradicted Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department SK Devamany's reply to Parliament that the minimum requirement to qualify for the JKPJ scholarship was 7As.

"Devamany and PSD must explain how she failed in her application when there are 200 scholarship places under the JKPJ Special Programme and Teh is one of the 102 students who had scored A+ in all subjects taken in the 2016 SPM examination," she said in a statement today.

Teh, who wants to pursue an engineering course in Germany, was not selected despite also having a good extracurricular activities record.

Her father is a technician while her mother is a production controller in a factory, according to an earlier report by The Star.

The JKPJ programme is the only PSD scholarship for undergraduate study in foreign institutions for SPM graduates.

Announced last year, it replaces earlier versions of the competitive PSD scholarship, which allowed top scorers to pursue undergraduate study overseas without country or subject restrictions.

Besides the JKPJ programme, there are 8,000 PSD scholarships for undergraduate studies at local varsities.

However, the top 20 SPM scorers will be sponsored to pursue an undergraduate degree anywhere in the world.

The government said it had to cut sponsorship of students to pursue undergraduate degrees overseas as part of austerity measures.

It saves RM240 million a year by canceling 744 scholarships for overseas studies - an average of RM322,580.65 per student, it said.

According to the PSD website, scholars are bonded to government service.

Scholars must return 25 percent of the funds if they opt to work in a government-linked company upon graduation. In contrast, half the value of the scholarship must be returned if they work in the private sector in Malaysia, while the entire sum must be paid back if they work abroad or are unemployed, within a stipulated period after graduation.- Mkini