Government has to clearly justify why they are shutting out scholarships and loans for MBBS under the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board (TSLB), says National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad.
“It is regrettable, regressive and certainly not a good time as a lot of students are coming out of Year 13 with good marks who are trying to get into programs of their choice,” he said.
Prof Prasad said the FijiFirst Government had opened the floodgates before the 2018 General Election and had bragged about “how no student will be left behind”, and were now doing the exact opposite.
“The burden would greatly fall on those parents who are unemployed and have to finance their children for tertiary education and the Government is now squeezing the parents and students out of the system.”
He said if MBBS scholarships had been scrapped, the least Government could do was support students wishing to pursue medical studies via the loans scheme.
“We need to ensure that the bright kids wanting to pursue their choice of course are given that opportunity and the FijiFirst Government has clearly lost its way in terms of planning.”
Prof Prasad said in a severe economic crisis “you don’t cut back expenditure on education”.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday last week, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the current demands of the labour market would determine how the National Toppers Scheme (NTS) and Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) were awarded.
“For example, if there is a glut in doctors, we do not necessarily give any toppers for doctors if there are too many doctors,” he said.
