Top scorers fail to get scholarships
BY ZARINAH DAUDBUTTERWORTH: Two months ago, Ng Ee Liang, Desmond Chee and Teoh Wan Ying were feeling on top of the world when they each scored 13 1As and were named Penang’s top SPM scorers.
But all their dreams and hopes came crashing down on Monday after finding out that their applications for Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships had been rejected.
“I logged on to the Internet website five times and each time, the words ‘permohonan ditolak’ appeared. I called my father and a friend to countercheck and they confirmed the bad news.
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Ng looking dejected as he stands behind the certificat he received from the Prime Minister and a photograph of him receiving an award from Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, in Penang on Tuesday. |
“I do not know what went wrong. I was active in sports and other extracurricular activities. I studied hard so that I could become a doctor.
“There are 25 top scorers nationwide and I am in 14th position. All of us had lunch with Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and received certificates from both the Prime Minister and Education Minister for our achievements.
“Yet, the certificates do not seem to be able to support my scholarship application,” said the former student of Chung Ling High School, Butterworth.
The boy said one of his schoolmates who scored 9As won a scholarship to South Korea to pursue an engineering course, while another with 10As had the chance to pursue a biotechnology course.
“Besides Chee, Teoh and myself, other top students who were rejected included Pahang’s top student Khaw Chok Tong (who scored 12 1As) and Perlis’s top scorer Chew Ying Dee (who obtained 13 1As),” he said.
Chee, a Form Six student at Penang Free School, also expressed his disappointment, saying he had expected a “favourable reply” from the PSD.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor and was hoping to get a PSD scholarship. My father works as a technician and cannot afford to pay the high fees for medical studies,” he said.
Teoh, from Penang Chinese Girls High School, expressed similar sentiments, saying that she had to pinch herself when she saw the PSD rejection.
She said she wanted to take up a course in actuarial science and hoped to study either in Australia or Britain.
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