Higher Education Minister Dr. Ibrahim Hassan has said 393 students will receive loans under the Student Loan Scheme.
More than 1,000 students applied for student loans to pursue higher education in the Maldives and abroad.
The Higher Education Ministry held a press conference on Monday to announce the provisional results of the loan scheme. Dr. Hassan said the interim results had been posted on the ministry's website. He said that students have until the 24th of this month to submit complaints if they are not satisfied with the way the marks were awarded. He added that the final results would be announced on the 5th of next month after considering the complaints.
The Higher Education Ministry opened 720 opportunities as loan schemes this year. However, the minister said the number of students who qualified was low due to various reasons.
The minister noted that many students had applied for the same field. While there are 25 slots for students wishing to pursue MBBS, 129 students had applied for the field, he said. While only ten loan opportunities are available for students pursuing piloting, 252 students applied for the loan, he noted. He added that 31 students applied for five Ph.D. loans.
"We will give priority to all fields. If we give more opportunities to one field, it will be unfair to the other fields. This is the reason why many students who applied for loans in the same field missed out," the minister explained.
The minister said many students were disqualified due to form-filling errors, applying for fields not included in the loan scheme, and failing to submit their O' Level and A' Level certificates.
The minister added that there was still MVR 21 million remaining from the loan budget as less number of students qualified for the loan. Therefore, he said the ministry would facilitate additional loan opportunities using the remaining funds. He said that loan applications would be opened after determining for which areas they would be given.
