He was responding to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said’s parliamentary reply in which she said the government had approved an increase of RM160 million to fund new scholarships in 2016.
“744 students were supposed to study overseas under the JPA scholarships this year. But then the government said the scholarships were reduced due to falling national income. Now Azalina is saying a different thing.
“If the money has been allocated, why are the scholarships turned into convertible loans?”
The Seremban MP said changing the policy at short notice would greatly affect the 744 students under the Bursary Graduate programme. He then urged the government to revert the policy and provide these students with the scholarships that were promised to them.
“If the government can’t absorb all these students, that would mean they have to pay back 100% of the scholarship they received. The problem here is that the government has limited positions, so can it absorb these 744 students?”
Azalina in the written reply to Loke said the government had allocated the extra RM160 million after taking note of concerns voiced out by the public as well as JPA.
“…in line with the government’s austerity move, the allocation approved for 2016 is RM1.65 billion. However, the RM1.65 billion is only enough to pay the upkeep of existing scholars,” she said.