Luke Nacei
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Picture: FT FILE
The Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board (TSLB) made a “hasty” decision without Government’s approval or consultation to raise the requirements for student’s academic performance under the National Toppers Scheme (NTS), says Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
He made the comment after meeting the TSLB and CEO, the Dean of the Fiji National University’s (FNU) College of Medicine, and the Solicitor General’s office, along with a number of representatives of recently suspended NTS students yesterday.
He called on the board and CEO of the TSLB to urgently review the suspension of NTS students following its “unilateral” and “arbitrary” decision to raise GPA requirements.
A-G LABELS DECISION TO SUSPEND TOPPER’S STUDENTS UNFAIR; THANKS STUDENTS FOR RAISING ISSUE
22/01/2021
Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has directed the Board and CEO of the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board (TSLB) to urgently review the suspension of National Topper’s Scheme (NTS) students following its unilateral and arbitrary decision to raise GPA requirements.
The Attorney-General met today with the TSLB Board and CEO, the Dean of the FNU College of Medicine, and the Solicitor General’s office, along with a number of representatives of recently-suspended NTS students.
“The TSLB made a hasty decision – without government’s approval or consultation to raise the requirements for student’s academic performance under the National Topper’s Scheme. Before they had any real idea of what was happening, some students found themselves unfairly suspended. Rather than rush to change the GPA requirements and suspend those stude
TSLB
Aircraft Engineering and Tourism Programs suspended from National Toppers Scholarship - TSLB
[Image: File Photo] People who want to study Aircraft Engineering and Tourism Programs will have to opt for the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme after the suspension of the National Toppers Scholarship for these two programs.
The Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Board had confirmed that such programs were listed under the national priority areas of government since the inception of the National Toppers Scheme and TELS in 2014 and these programs were included to ensure that Fiji has an adequate number of trained people.
The National Toppers Scholarships and TELS for MBBS and Oral Health has also been suspended from this year after the announcement in the 2020/2021 National Budget.
Jan 18, 2021 09:04:13 PM Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board chair Rakesh Ram says the principle objective of the review of their scholarships and loan scheme is to identify the human resources needs of the industry sectors (Public/Private and NGO) for the next 10 years in a consultative approach. Ram in a statement has categorically denounced any misinformation being spread that the current review of the national priority areas is aimed at restricting students’ choices, curtailing the student’s aspirations or any attempts to reduce the budgetary allocation for the scholarship and loans schemes. He said review is further aimed at identifying the new fields that need to be addressed in the priority areas for funding under the scholarship and loans schemes and at the same time it will assist TSLB in identifying skills that are becoming obsolete/redundant so that appropriate recommendations could be made for upskilling of the workforce.
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