The National Youth Congress is calling on Solomon Islands Tertiary Education and Skills Authority (SITESA) to release the list of SIG scholarship recipients as claims of nepotism in the selection process has emerged.
The Vice Chairman of the National Youth Congress, Phillip Suba said: “I would like to see the list of names for Scholarships published by SITESA. There must be transparency in regards to the scholarship opportunity list.”
He said there are posts flooding his newsfeed (on social media) about a student with high GPA 4.5 not been selected whilst a student with GPA 3 got the scholarship for same field of study which both of them applied.
“I don’t know what is the criteria. As far as I know, any selection is based on merit. That student with GPA 4.5 deserves to get a scholarship. SITESA must come out and clear the air. Corruption in awarding Scholarships is not a new issue. I demand a prompt response from SITESA as soon as possible,” he said.
SITESA had made a public notice saying it would only be informing only those who were awarded with scholarships.
The social media has already gone viral and there were calls for the CEO of SITESA to release the list.
SBMOnline sent questions on this matter to the CEO and her deputy for explanation but until tonight there were no responses.