Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will resolve the controversy over the awarding of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships, especially the overseas programme, and entry into

matriculation programme in the local universities, said MIC vice-president Dr S Subramaniam today.

    

NONE Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resource Minister, said he had raised the two issues at the weekly cabinet meeting here today, and the prime minister agreed to look into them personally.

"The prime minister has given an undertaking to resolve the matter," he said in a statement here.

It was reported that many SPM leavers with excellent grades have complained that their applications to do the matriculation programme and to secure the PSD scholarship were rejected.

Many of them have since appealed against the decision.

Many parents of the affected students also took up the matter with the relevant government departments and to the various political parties, including the MIC.

Subramaniam said he decided to bring up the two issues at the cabinet meeting again today to find an amicable solution.

The minister said he also spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, on the matriculation issue where many Indian students with good grades had their applications rejected.

He said a series of discussions were also held with the Secretary-General of the Education Ministry on the intake of students to do matriculation courses.

"On the PSD scholarship, I have already held several meetings with the PSD and several more rounds of discussions will be held in the next few days or so," he said.

Subramaniam expressed confidence that the issues could be resolved through negotiations with the government.

"While I agree that there appears to be unhappiness and a sense of mistreatment amongst the affected students and their parents, it has to be understood that the entire process is not over yet.

"The government is still in the process of considering appeals from the students. Besides, the results for the PSD scholarship for local universities have also yet to be announced," he said.

Subramaniam said the process to resolve the issues was being undertaken in stages, adding that he was confident that an amicable solution could be negotiated with the government.

"The government is aware of the situation and is taking every step to resolve these issues. And rest assured that the MIC is making every attempt to find an amicable solution to the two issues.

"We are closely monitoring these issues to ensure fairness to the eligible students," he added.

- Bernama