Meritocracy vs social justice

The Government will strike a balance between meritocracy and social justice when rewarding students for outstanding academic achievements, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said. This was reported in TheStar two days ago.

Well said, Mr PM. I always find it painful to see rich students getting scholarships.

My nearby neighbour was awarded a JPA scholarship a couple of years ago and she was sent to the US. Guess what happened next? Her parents bought a new house and moved to another residential area. Their house, which is just a few units away from mine was left vacant for a few years. They are probably so cash rich that they don't see the need to sell off the house or even to rent it out.

A former student of mine related to me how unfair that her schoolmate whose parents are both doctors was awarded a JPA scholarship. Indeed, how unfair. Where is the social justice?

Rich students whose parents could afford to fund their education do not deserve to receive a scholarship. However, we will often hear cries from them saying that scholarships should be given out based on meritocracy. They argue that they deserve the scholarships since they have worked hard for it.

Why a rich student would want to compete with other less fortunate students who score fairly good results to obtain a scholarship? There are many other students with outstanding academic achievements who do not have the opportunity and means to further their tertiary studies. All they want is some financial aid to fund their studies. Unfortunately, we have selfish rich students who want a slice of the scholarship pie as well depriving others who seriously need financial aid.

When I was teaching in this College X, I came to know students who enrolled in courses like the A-Levels programme, HSC programme, and the American Degree Transfer programme are already financially prepared to further their studies abroad. Yet, they still apply for the JPA scholarship hoping to strike a lottery. Well, once they got the scholarship, it could save them tons of money and probably they could spend their well-saved money on a trip to Japan or maybe they will buy another property, perhaps.

Yes, meritocracy is important when awarding scholarships but financial needs should also be seriously considered. At the same time, social justice should also not be restricted to one race only. Social justice should be served to all Malaysians. There are poor Chinese and poor Indians as well.