MCA Youth has urged the government to review its decision to phase out 1,500 Public Service Department (PSD) overseas scholarships for undergraduate studies.

wee ka siong interview 220310 03 Wee Ka Siong, who is also MCA education bureau chief and deputy education minister, said the government body overseeing the scholarships should evaluate the criteria instead.

“They should not abolish the overseas scholarships. The issue here is the selection criteria. You need to beef it up and fine-tune it... people want to see more transparency in this so by all means, do it,” he said in the Parliament lobby today.

“First of all, the PSD has very general guidelines. The selection criteria must be made public, otherwise people who obtained 2 or 3A+  will think they are eligible to apply.”

Wee appealed to the government not to stop sending students abroad because many students depend on PSD scholarships to further their studies.

parliament gobind singh ban over nazri mistake 251108 04 Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had said that government scholarships for undergraduate studies overseas would be phased out from next year.

Nazri, however, said that those who have secured admission to undergraduate studies at high- profile foreign universities such as Oxford and Cambridge may still apply for the scholarship.

He was quoted as admitting that the government does not have the “capacity” to finance the studies of the growing pool of bright students.

Although it is an unpopular move, the public will have to accept the reality of the government's situation, he had added.

MIC head S Samy Vellu had similarly said it would be unfair and unjust to poor families, if the scholarships were scrapped.

Samy: Don't scrap PSD scholarships