56% of PSD scholarships awarded to Bumi students

(Bernama) – The Public Service Department (PSD) gave out 2,850 scholarships to students to study abroad last year, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said.

He said about 56% of the scholarships were awarded to Bumiputera students including in Sabah and Sarawak while the rest were awarded to non-Bumiputera students.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Nazri said the distribution of the scholarships was based on four categories namely merit, ethnic race, Sabah/Sarawak Bumiputera, and their social background.

For the merit category, he said 59 scholarships (20%) were given out to Bumiputera while 241 scholarships (80%) were for non-Bumiputera.

For the quota based on racial groups, Bumiputera students received 557 scholarships compared with 343 for the non-Bumiputera.

Another 150 scholarships were given out to Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera while 1,500 scholarships were given out based on the recipients’ social background — 841 scholarships for Bumiputera and 657 for non-Bumiputera.

“If based on merit, only a few Bumiputera succeeded in getting the scholarship, thus, next year, Bumiputera students need to study harder,” Nazri said.