The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (MPRM) decided to stop the scholarship of 24 recipients from the 2009 to 2013 intake because the students did not meet the minimum marks requirements in their studies in Indonesia and in Australia.
MPRM Scholarship Program Coordinator, Ana Lucinda, said the scholarship holders must comply with the rules of their contracts so they can keep receiving the scholarships and this includes attending lectures and classes full time, not committing a crime, not receiving a scholarship from other sources as well as following university regulations.
“We halted [the scholarships] because they don’t display a commitment to learning, are lazy and have been absent from university for more than two or three weeks. They fell back on their course work and received poor academic marks,” said Coordinator Lucinda at Ramelau Hotel, in Aimutin, Dili.
The decision was also based on negative feedback from the universities about the student’s poor academic performance.
The 24 scholarship recipients were studying petroleum engineering, geosciences and petroleum, chemistry engineering, geography, geophysics, geometrics, geodesy and environmental studies at Gajah Mada University in Jogjakarta, Padjajaran University in Bandung and at the Veteran University in Jogjakarta, in Indonesia.
She added some others were studying at the University of New South Wales, at New Castle University, Adelaide University, University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology in Australia.
Martinho Pinto, a youth, congratulated and agreed with the decision of the MPRM to stop the scholarships.
“I think this is a very positive intervention and can serve as an example for other ministries to follow. We cannot spend money on people who don’t have the commitment to learn. There are others who want to go learn,” said Youth Pinto.
He also urged MPRM to think of awarding scholarships based not just on high academic scores but also on the recipient’s ability to demonstrate their commitment to seeing their studies through.
Meanwhile the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Alfredo Pires, noted the situation and said it represented a challenge his ministry faces but promised to fix the issue for future applications.
He said Timor-Leste needs to train experts in specific areas related to the natural resources of Timor-Leste.
