No single system that pleases everyone

It is that time of the year again when scores of top students find it hard to accept why they have been rejected outright for the prestigious Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships.

Comparison is a norm in this case between a better and an average student who may, by pure luck secures the scholarship which will see him or her packing to go overseas to pursue tertiary studies.

I understand how hard it is to comprehend when you see your classmates who may not be academically better than you could end up luckier than he should be.

For the top students who have been rejected, accusation of unfairness will definitely be levelled against the government of the day for practising favouritism and non accountability in the awarding of the scholarships which may worth up to RM1 million each.

Having worked for a political organisation before, I had come across the predicament of these top students who came in droves seeking help to secure the scholarships during the appeal season.

I could still remember how a mother who came to me broke down as the son who was unsuccessful in his bid to be a PSD scholar had pressured the family so much that the mother could not take it anymore.

But the mother was lucky enough not having to undergo such immense pressure from her son when he was eventually given the scholarship to go overseas to do a professional course.

I understand how the scholarship means so much to these students who come from poor background as it is the only hope for them to go to prestigious universities overseas.

Of course politicians from both divides have made various statements regarding the criteria in the awarding of the scholarships.

MCA president and Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat for instance had called for the government to review the existing selection criteria which is based on merit (20%), race (60%), Sabah and Sarawak (10%) and the underprivileged (10%).

But his suggestion was met with criticism from Perkasa, a Malay non-governmental organisation of which its president, Datuk Ibrahim Ali had accused the former of trying to score political mileage among the Chinese electorates.

Political mileage or not, I must say when it comes to education, politicians from both divides must close rank and come together to find the best way to retain the best brain in the country.

It is an irony as some people say that our government spends so much in providing education from primary school up to the upper secondary level only to see those top students being pinched over by other countries and eventually becoming their permanent residents.

Politicians have called for the awarding of the PSD scholarships to be based purely on meritocracy but would this be the best solution to keep everyone happy? I doubt it though.

We have to go back to the basic of how our education system works.

As of now, it seems that as long as you have more A1’s, one would stand a better chance of securing the scholarship.

We have students who scored A1’s in an incredible feat of more than 20 subjects which is unheard of in the past.

But would this be fair to those students who come from a school which does not offer so many subjects due to shortage of teachers and facilities? Again I doubt it.

This is exactly the point made by PSD director general, Tan Sri Ismail Adam who defended the current criteria in the awarding of the scholarships.

While meritocracy is the ultimate goal eventually, what the government must do now is to review the current education system by capping the number of subjects to say, eight or nine core subjects only to be fair to every student.

I do not understand the logic in allowing students to sit up to 20 subjects when what matters most is a student’s performance in core subjects.

Second, the PSD ought to make clear the guidelines and requirements of the scholarships so as not to leave everyone in the dark.

With clear guidelines and requirements, it would save the PSD and the government of having to face the wrath of the public as well as the politicians.

Then, the PSD must ensure that it does not practise favouritism in the awarding of the scholarships and must uphold that only the best students are selected for the scholarships.

But again, would this be fair to students who come from poor background who do not have the privilege of going to tuitions or buying reference books compared to their richer peers? I beg this is not.

We do not want to see dropouts among the PSD scholars as this would indirectly put our country in shame in the eyes of the world for these scholars are the country’s so-called ambassadors overseas.

To come out with a system which is fair to everyone is almost impossible in this country of multi ethnicity when everyone is selfishly fighting for himself.

Meritocracy is ideal but I guess at the end of the day, we have to acknowledge that sometimes we do not always get what we want.

To those who failed to make it in the PSD scholarships, it could be a blessing in disguise as there could be silver lining somewhere else.