The government has cancelled a conference with students who came first nationally for this year’s May/June A’levels examinations, which was scheduled after concerns over the scholarship provided to them by the President’s Office surfaced.
The conference was to be held at the President’s Office on Monday, and over 40 students and their parents were to participate in it.
However, hours after the conference was scheduled, said students and their parents were informed via text message that the meeting had been cancelled.
The dispute was caused after the Education Ministry gazetted a regulation on May 22nd this year that stated that students who qualify for the president’s scholarship can only study at countries in the South Asia, while the scholarship conventionally extends to any country and university in the world.
Further, while the ministry gazetted this regulation another set of regulations on the scholarship was signed and released by Education Minister Aishath Shiham was released on June 13th, which says that these regulations will only be enforced for the students enrolled in this year’s October/November A’level examinations.
A number of parents had also expressed concern that the criteria for the scholarship had also been changed, so that students who only receive ‘A*’ grades are eligible.
One such parent told RaajjeMV that their child had attained ‘A’ grades in an examination the student sat for in January this year, long before the amended regulations were enforced, but they have been informed that the student does not qualify for the scholarship.
