Will not cause obstruction to studies of students abroad: Ministry of Higher Education

Ministry of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development has affirmed last night that nothing obstructing the education of students undertaking their studies overseas under the government's sponsorship will be allowed to occur.

Revealing that 2,163 students are presently studying overseas under the State's sponsorship, the Ministry assured that students have always been deposited regular payments for their program fees, living allowances and other expenses accordingly with the agreed procedure.

The Ministry acknowledged that delays are sometimes observed in issuing payments. They, however, recalled that such situations arose in the past as well.

They attributed the main causes for payment delays to the lengthy time consumed during the process to verify enrollment/course with the university or college as well as the delay by students in submitting the required documents during the given timeframe.

"The Ministry is working to automate such services that needs to be provided to students, expedite the verification process of the students' education and increase the efficiency of the service the children are given," said the Ministry of Higher Education.

They said that the government also assures to expend all and any efforts to avoid anything that may obstruct the education of any student.

The Ministry had not revealed the number of local students who remain overseas with unissued payments, with the amount of unsettled payments also remaining unclear.

Meanwhile, an emergency motion was submitted to the parliament yesterday by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party on the problem of the government failing to issue payments to student studying abroad under their sponsorship. However, the motion was rejected by the ruling party People's National Congress (PNC) controlled legislative.