Kamaruzzaman

May 02, 2008

PSD scholarships for SPM students with 9As

Saturday May 3, 2008
PSD scholarships for SPM students with 9As

PETALING JAYA: The Public Service Department (PSD) will offer scholarships to all students who scored 9As in their SPM examinations last year, regardless of background, to study Form Six in fully-aided schools.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan said students who do matriculation, including those in Universiti Malaya’s Science Preparatory Centre and International Islamic University’s matriculation programme, would also be offered scholarships.

These students will also be sponsored for their first degree if they do it in a local university, he said in a statement yesterday.

Sidek said the PSD would also sponsor such students if they obtained places in an Ivy League or equivalent university.

Top-scoring students who get a place in a Malaysian branch of a foreign university such as Monash University, Nottingham University, Curtin University of Technology and Swinburne Unversity will also be offered scholarships.

On top of this, Sidek said the PSD would offer scholarships to 2,000 students for overseas studies and a further 10,000 for studies in local universities.

He said the scholarships were being offered in line with the Government’s efforts to develop human capital.

He said the Government was aware that the number of high achievers is growing every year. Yet, not every student would have a chance to get Government sponsorship.

“The Government realises that high achievers are assets.

“As such, it has introduced the initiative to increase the number of scholarships where students of any background will be offered as long as they satisfy the SPM 9A score condition,” he said.

The move, Sidek added, would indirectly encourage these high achievers to further their education in local universities.

Education Ministry to relook 9MP projects

Saturday May 3, 2008
Education Ministry to relook 9MP projects

PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry is reprioritising its projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the projects included the construction of sports and arts schools.

“We have been facing problems with land issues and the rising cost of things in the past two years which are unlikely to be resolved by the end of the 9MP,” he told reporters after chairing the weekly post-Cabinet meeting.

He said this was in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s statement that the Government would not sacrifice “people-centred projects” which had been lined up under the 9MP.

Abdullah said the projects had to be scaled down in terms of allocation or postponed but those related to the well-being of the people would not be sacrificed.

Hishammuddin said 75% of projects under the 9MP were under way.

“But as prices of goods have gone beyond what we planned for, the cost (of the projects) has gone slightly over the RM23.1bil allocated,” he said.

On another matter, Hishammuddin said his deputy Dr Wee Ka Siong visited the SJKC Damansara premises yesterday morning.

“We have to look into several issues such as why it was closed previously and reasons for it to be reopened,” he said.

In February, the Prime Minister had asked Hishammuddin to look into the request from the Chinese community that the school be reopened.

According to a report, the school was officially closed in 2001 and the 1,400 pupils moved to temporary premises at another school in Bandar Utama based on the request of a majority of parents.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said there were still complaints of stress and workload issues from teachers.

“My deputy Datuk Razali Ismail has been meeting the 24 teachers’ unions on this. We want them to be able to concentrate on their core business (of teaching),” he said.