Personally, this looks little more than the standard reassurance message sent out around this time of year, but Indian SPM and STPM students applying for public universities (IPTAs) and Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarships should feel safer with the MIC’s rather strong announcement of support. The message basically asks Indian students who are applying for IPTAs and PSD scholarships to submit copies of their applications to MIC headquarters as soon as possible, to allow MIC sufficient time to compile the thousands of applications ahead of the appeals season.

Of course, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu does state that students must meet the selection criteria imposed on the universities and JPA scholarships applied for to be considered for appeals. He also advised Indian students to pick less “popular” courses like Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and biotechnology to increase their chances of being given a university place or an overseas scholarship.

As a side note, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu highlighted the various opportunities available to SPM and STPM underachievers, such as the MIC-run Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) in Kedah and the Tafe College in Negeri Sembilan. For more vocational-type training, he pointed out industrial training institutes (ILPs) like the Arumugam Pillai Institute in Nibong Tebal.

[News via The Star Online]