LOS TEROPONG: Medical Dreams Fulfilled .. Malaysian Style

I really don't understand this, honestly. There is this big ballyhoo about TOP SPM scorers not securing a scholarship to further their studies in Medicine. A few names were mentioned with achievements of 12 1As and 13 1As. That was 9th June 2005. There followed vows from the MOE to look into this matter with the involvement of a Party President, including the PM, and viola!! - in The Star (11 June 2005), the Public Services Department (PSD) has offered scholarships to the five SPM top scorers who initially failed in their bid. A couple of column heads read, 'Students get to fulfil their dreams' and 'Rejected top SPM scorers finally get PSD scholarships' (Page 3, The Star, 11 June 2005). Congratulations.

IS IT WRONG TO WONDER HOW THIS CAME ABOUT??

In The Star (9th June 2005, Pg.8), a report by Sim Leoi Leoi from Putrajaya revealed comments fron the PSD. An officer (I presume) clarified that the main constraints (of PSD) when awarding the scholarships is the limited number of awards available per year ... and, due to fierce competition, particularly for medicine, there will be those who won't be awarded the scholarship.It was reported that 4580 candidates were called for interviews and 1265 were offered scholarships. For medicine, 1189 candidates named it as their first choice while only 322 places were allocated for the course. The selection criteria are:

Excellent SPM results,
Subjects that match course requirement,
Grades for the subjects,
National requirement for the course

PLUS other criteria such as

PESONALITY,
SELF-IMAGE,
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY and
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.

These are clear guidelines and statistics provided by the PSD. A standard management strategy would be to RANK the applicants according to their total score (including the interview) to which even just a half-point difference could make a significant contribution, due to the fierce competition. Then presumably, those whose in the final rank (score plus interview) would be offered a place, naturally.

Logically those unsuccessful could appeal AND as in previous years, PSD would consider all appeals based on the number of students who turned down the scholarship AND on any additional allocations. Otherwise, the unsuccessful applicants can seek sponsorship somewhere else.

This episode is fairly easy to understand. You go to the airport to fly KL to Penang. Places still available. Next person comes, flight full including Business Class. Persons agree to go on Standby, pending no-show of reserved seats. The ones on standby also has to join a stanby queue. Normally (as I have experienced many times in the past), one would be able to secure a seat, and there may be others to would be unsuccessful. What would they do, see the Manager to complain that they did not get a seat? Then the Manager would intervene and the 2 people, say, who complined managed to get a seat.

Question is, where did the 2 extra seats come from? Was someone asked to leave the plane to make way for the complaining 2 people? Remember there are fixed number of seats on the plane!! Did they 2 sat in the cockpit with the Captain (you have to know the captan really well) - remember the flight was full!

Now when the scholarship slots are full, the unsuccessful students will either have to wait in a queue of appeals. So naturally, those who want to join in will have to join the queue. This is a pretty straightforward process.

So, when it was reported that the PM was approached and a discussion ensued and that the Education Minister too lent full support to those students. It was reported too in the news that the PM gave his blessings and support for the cases to be brought to the attention of the PSD. Huh? .. the PSD did not know about all these. Were they not doing their job?

What do these really MEAN?? The Public Services Department (PSD) has offered scholarships to the five SPM top scorers who initially failed in their bid. WHAT REALLY TOOK PLACE.

From the MANAGEMENT standpoint, I would like to know ... I am dying to know .. I have burning questions ... what were the mitigating factors that led to the granting of the scholarships ..

Were the 5 students granted scholarship upon the request of the PM?
What made PSD decide to now offer the scholarship when they were not offered earlier?
What was different then and now?
Were the 5 students in the ranking sequence of the appeals?
Were the students in the 'queue' at all or were they beneficiaries of exposure in the news?
Where did the extra 5 places come from?
Why only five places - what happens when more appeals with political clout appear at the doorstep?
What about those students in the queue?
What about the students who may rank higher and accepted the rejection and have now apparently lost out to the five?

The fact that the 'legal' processes that has taken place in the selection of the students by the PSD was 'compromised' by its own members is poor reflection of its own working mechanism. We have just rendered the selection process useless. Why have the selection and scoring and interviewing when it can be trampled upon. Then, anything goes. Where are the rules? IT IS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE!!! Maybe it is no big deal, I don't know, but it means a lot to me .. it means a lot to those who abide by the processes, it means a lot to the those who go by the book, it means a lot to those who wait for their turn ... What happens if the next one turn up ????

SURE ENOUGH - In the Mingguan Malaysia today (12 Jun 2005) and on the front page, another student Abdul Azim Abdul Rahim also obtained 12A1 and was rejected by the PSD.

Where does one draw the line? Where does it end? Why stop at five? Why can it be extended then and not now? What is the criteria to stop? This is what happens when you start to monkey around with the rules that we make. Once we have made a rule, done the selection properly and used the full allocation, then those unsuccessful must go somewhere else. Otherwise, we have nothing that we can call as an execution, but a process in limbo. This is only one side of the issue, that is how we do things.

On another note, what is this ballyhoo about 'going overseas', 'getting a scholarship' and the bigger issue of getting a 'university education'. The whole point is NOT EVERYBODY can go overseas, NOT EVERYBODY can get a scholarship, and NOT EVERYBODY can get a university education. There are LIMITED CHANCES. The rest must carry on with their lives in different paths, different forms although they might get there at the end of the day.

Even if you get into a 'medical programme', you still have to pass the Pre-U Med, and believe me, there will be those who will fail even at this stage. I think this unrealistic rosy picture of a good thing after getting good grades in SPM is getting out of hand. If you are so good, go do your STPM. Even if you go overseas, you still have to do a 'STPM' equivalent, called by different names such as the 'A' Levels, Pre-U courses and the like. The fact that parents keep sounding that getting good SPM results and not getting a scholarship is THE END OF THE WORLD when in fact it is JUST THE BEGINNING!! Aiyaa, tak tau lah ...

LOS TEROPONG

Los Teropong (Teropong means binoculars) comments on current issues in Malaysia, and sometimes the world, and put forth another opinion and perspective. BY THE WAY - THEY HUNG THE WRONG GUY ...