The conversion of JPA scholarship to loans without any public statement came as a shock to the 744 2013 SPM bursary students.
The conversion is most unfair to the students and is in fact a double injustice to them.
The students had their first shock when the Prime Minister announced on Jan 27 in his recalibrated Budget that these students would not be sent to overseas universities though this was stated in the original offer letters to them.
Datuk Seri Najib said that these students would instead be sponsored to study at local private or public universities.
Many students wept on seeing their dreams of studying at world renowned universities shattered.
Yet the JPA could inflict further pain on them by converting their scholarship into loans.
This is certainly double injustice to the students.
In the JPA website, it has been stated that the government has agreed to the new sponsorship model for the Bursary programme.
However, Minister in the Prime Minister’s department, Datuk Wee Ka Siong had said that the decision was not a government policy as it was obviously not discussed in the Cabinet meeting.
So how could JPA decide on such important issues without seeking prior approval from the Cabinet?
Is it right for JPA to say “Kerajaan telah bersetuju dengan Model Baharu Penajaan Jabatan Awam Perkhidmatan….” when it was not approved by the Cabinet?
In fact, the JPA’s decision has violated the Prime Minister’s announcement on Jan 27 as what he announced was that the students would still be fully sponsored. Datuk Najib did not mention at all that the scholarship will be converted to loans.
I call on the Cabinet to rescind the JPA‘s unfair, unreasonable and unacceptable decision.