Good news for 54 students as Cabinet approves scholarships

PUTRAJAYA: Trepidation has turned to joy for 54 students who finally got the nod for government scholarships.

Announcing this yesterday, Pub­lic Service Department (PSD) director-general Datuk Borhan Dolah said the Cabinet made the decision at its meeting on Wednesday.

Of the 54, 13 students received offers from the world’s top 10-ranked universities under an arran­­gement where 80% of the cost is sponsored by the government.

The universities include the highly prestigious Oxford and Cam­bridge varsities.

The remaining 41 students will receive full PSD scholarships to pursue courses at local universities, Borhan said.

“At the moment, the Cabinet prioritises students with offers from the world’s top-10 universities according to the Times Higher Education list,” he said at the “My Best Buy FAM @ JPA4U” programme here yesterday.

The Cabinet decision followed a petition submitted by 63 students three months ago asking for consideration to be sponsored for study abroad.

On another matter, Borhan said the issue of unpaid officers of ministers had been resolved following a “blanket approval” by the Public Service Commission.

“The Commission came up with a blanket approval so that any officer appointed by ministers will be approved first, and they can submit the necessary documents related to their appointments later.

“Before this, we followed the rules. The officers cannot be appointed if the supporting documents are not submitted. But because this issue dragged on, we gave it some leeway.

“We have also instructed the ministries to settle the outstanding payments first,” said Borhan.