Govt should set clear guidelines on eligibility for JPA scholarship, calls SUPP man

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Ding (top, second left) fields questions from members of the media, as Wong (top, left) looks on.

SIBU (Aug 30): Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Central Education Bureau is hoping that the government would set clear guidelines with regard to the eligibility for any Public Service Department (JPA) scholarship.

Meradong assemblyman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing, who is also the bureau chairman, made this call, stating that with such guidelines, the students would have peace of mind and be focused on fulfilling the set criteria.

He pointed this out during a press conference conducted via Zoom on Saturday, to appeal for two local Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2020 high-achievers who did not obtain JPA scholarships to pursue higher education.

“The main purpose of this press conference is to appeal on behalf of these two brilliant students, who unfortunately could not get their JPA scholarship.

“I remember a few years back, the government actually had a set of criteria, where if you achieved 9A+, you’re automatically given JPA scholarship.

“But somehow over these past couple of years, we have begun seeing many students with good results, but they could not get JPA scholarship.

“I think it is not fair to them (two local SPM top-scorers) because the closing date for application (for JPA scholarship) is over. I mean, if you got good results, you’d deserve to have the scholarship,” said Ding.

On that note, he said SUPP Central Education Bureau would not give up on these two students.

“We will write to our new Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) again, with copies to Minister of Higher Education Datuk Noraini Ahmad and Minister in Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

“We will use all our resources to try to get JPA scholarship for both students.

“So, I hope our government would set a clear guideline so that if you achieved 9A+, then you would automatically gain JPA scholarship (local bursary) to study in national universities; if you achieved higher than that, 10A+ or 11A+, then you would be sent to study overseas (under JPA scholarship),” said Ding.

Earlier on, SUPP Dudong chairman Wong Ching Yong clarified that the closing date of JPA scholarship application for this year was June 23, but the two students only received their revised SPM results on July 24.

It is explained that one of the students, who scored 8A+ and 3As in his SPM 2020 examination, had made appeal to the Malaysian Examinations Board regarding his results and subsequently, his overall grade was later revised to 11A+. Currently, he is doing A-Level at Taylor’s College.

The other student had initially scored 8A+ and 3A-, but following his appeal, he later got 9A+, 1A and 1A-.

This student is now undertaking a matriculation programme in Labuan.’

Both are former students of Methodist Secondary School Sibu.

“Unfortunately, JPA apparently did not want to accept their appeals,” said Wong.