ABOUT 26 students from Malaita Province doing their bachelor programmes under SIG scholarships at Solomon Islands National University (SINU) call for “fairness” from the government.
This after the National Scholarship Division (NSD) at Solomon Islands Tertiary Education and Skills Authority (SITESA) refused to grant them extension in their scholarships to complete their programmes this year.
One of the students said the Students Academic Service at SINU has endorsed their letters for extension under the SIG scholarship.
However, there is slowness by NSD staff to act on their letters for about three to four weeks now, preventing them from registration.
“We feel some of the officers in NSD have targeted us following the riots and lootings last November.
“However, none of us are part of this riots,” student said.
The student said it being a practice since restructure in 2019, when NSD granted extension to students who applied.
“Why they target us?
“We are bit worry otherwise become practice in office because we care about national unity,” one of the students said.
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Dr Franco Rhodie said he is not aware of the issue.
However, Dr Rhodie said there is a process at SITESA to grant extension to students.
He said it is best for the students to present their cases to SITESA for deliberation.
