Scholarships a privilege we should take seriously

I REFER to the remarks by former Morobe governor Luther Wenge during a visit to Wau recently.
Firstly, I commend Wenge for initiating the Gerson-Solulu scholarship programme during his term in office.
The scholarship have been very beneficial to most of the young Morobeans who are now out in the workforce enjoying the long-term benefits the scholarship has given them.
I am one of them and also thank current Governor Kelly Naru who continues to support the scholarship programme, which supports students from all over Morobe covering up to nine districts and 33 local level governments.
The provincial government is doing what it can to develop human resources in Morobe but my concern is about the recipients of the scholarship in terms of academic performances.
Early this year, some students were left out because of changes in the scholarship eligibility criteria.
I was in favour of the cut-off grade point average (GPA) set by the scholarship committee because it will ensure students perform well academically.
The GPA of 2.5 is very low and is similar to that of OHE and it can be scored by anybody or even everyone.
However, it seems that some of us have not been too serious in our studies and were inhibited from receiving the scholarship.
There is no point to argue because it’s our own laziness and government is looking for quality result.
If we cannot meet the government’s vision, then there is no guarantee to benefit from scholarship even if we are a genuine Morobean.
I want to challenge all my fellow country man and women to think seriously and don’t take the scholarship for granted.
Some of us are freely roaming around and when it comes to the provincial government to decide on scholarship recipients, we fail to meet the criteria.
Our government wants quality result. They don’t want Morobeans with a degree.
They want Morobeans with brains that will bring creativity and innovation into the province for the social and economic development of the province and country as a whole.
Your academic GPA will speaks for who you are and how committed you are.
Even for employment and graduate development programmes, with good GPA, you will be one step ahead of others.
And with the scholarship programme, it is the opportunity for everyone of us to make good use of the opportunity.
Even we are Morobeans, we don’t have the rights to scholarship but it is the privilege that we must take it seriously because that privilege will be determined by our academic performance and not our status as Morobeans.

Sky Bobeng
UPNG, Waigani