New TSLB had not changed any policies or requirements for Toppers - Ram

Good news for students as the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Board Chairman, Rakesh Ram has confirmed that they are working on a 7 point action plan to serve the National Toppers students better following concerns raised by some of the students that they were affected by arbitrary decisions.

Ram states that the new TSLB board has not changed any policies or requirements since it’s appointment two months ago but the new board has also found out that there are some issues and concerns that need to be immediately addressed.

He says the key issues that the board looked into and investigated after discussions with the Attorney General, Solicitor General and the concerned students was that there are various versions of the TSLB policy which has not been clearly communicated to the students or sufficient awareness has not been undertaken.

Ram says the number of contracts for separate subjects or areas which has been issued to the students is not entirely correct or consistent and no proper or consistent notification has been provided to the students before they were put under probation or suspension.

The TSLB Chairman says they are now working on the action plan where Toppers students whose scholarships were suspended in 2020 without any personal notification will be reinstated; going forward existing GPA of 3.0 is to remain in terms of existing policy for both continuation and reinstatement for the Toppers program; suspended students by TSLB can continue their studies under the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) if the conditions are met in their contract but to also have the option to join TELS if it is not included in the contract; TSLB board to undertake a full review and audit of existing policies, processes, documents and contracts, and make it correct and consistent; the board to review matters at operational level and address any gaps and shortcomings; the board to undertake consultative approach with all stakeholders, including students on a regular basis and the TSLB board to develop a service oriented culture to better service students.

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the reinstated students will go back on scholarship at the probation level where they will have a fair shot at working their way back up to the GPA threshold. He says these students may have fallen below the necessary GPA requirements but that policy was poorly and inconsistently enforced that they were ambushed by the news of their suspensions. Sayed-Khaiyum says they do have standards for students receiving scholarship and they must meet those requirements. He says if they don’t, they will be suspended, but that must happen in accordance with due process.

The Attorney General says from here on, students must be individually notified if they are placed on probation or if they have been suspended.

He says all of the students who earned those scholarships on merit did not have a reliable safety net in place if they were suspended. Sayed-Khaiyum says many of their contracts say they are entitled to TELS funding, but in some cases that was disregarded by TSLB’s management.

The Attorney General says there is no financial reason why it should not be used to fund their studies through TELS.

Sayed-Khaiyum says TSLB’s management has made that far more difficult than necessary by changing the goalposts.

He also commended the students for directly presenting their concerns to Government.

Fiji National University student representative Abdul Shaheed acknowledged the government for providing them a platform to discuss further issues that are affecting students whose scholarships were suspended last year.

Shaheed was grateful for the new decisions by the TSLB board to reinstate suspended scholarships and he has reassured other students that all their grievances will be addressed before the start to another academic year.