Hundreds of students who achieved high grades and meet the criteria of the Cyprus State Scholarships Foundation (IKYK) are left “in limbo” this year, without a state scholarship, due to the limited funding of the programme.
The issue is expected to be discussed as an urgent matter today at the House of Representatives’ Education Committee, following a series of complaints and growing public pressure from student organisations and political parties.
According to data presented last week before the plenary session of the House, only 411 scholarships were awarded this year, a number almost half that of previous years.
“In previous years we had approximately 950 scholarships, and today only 411 were announced,” AKEL MP Christos Christofides said yesterday, describing the situation as “unacceptable, leaving out children who are entitled to and in need of a scholarship”.
As he noted, the announcement of scholarship results “does not include even half of the scholarship holders covered in previous years”, while the large number of eligible students left out is pushing many families into financial deadlock at a time when their children are excelling academically.
POFEN stresses that these decisions “directly undermine equal access to education” and calls for strengthening the Cyprus State Scholarships Foundation and for changes to the way its budget is calculated, so that exclusionary phenomena are not repeated.
Mr Christofides called on the Ministry of Finance to return immediately with a supplementary budget allocation, in order to cover all high-achieving students who meet the criteria.
Along the same lines was the intervention of DISY MP Giorgos Karoullas, who spoke of a “institutional deviation” when students who meet the criteria are left without a scholarship.
“Failure to comply with the provisions of the legislation results in beneficiaries remaining without approval and payment of a scholarship despite meeting the criteria,” he said, stressing that “excellence and respect are not negotiable”.
Protests from POFEN
Similar warnings had also been issued by the Pancyprian Federation of Student Unions (POFEN), which in a recent press release expressed “strong concern and dissatisfaction” over the injustices caused by the reduction in scholarships.
The Federation underlines that these decisions “directly undermine equal access to education” and calls for strengthening the Cyprus State Scholarships Foundation, as well as changes to the way its budget is calculated, so that exclusionary phenomena are not repeated.
POFEN stresses that “equal access to education cannot be subject to accounting cuts” and calls on the State to cover all eligible students who meet the criteria of excellence and need.
The Federation also reminds that it has already sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance, requesting a permanent increase in the IKYK budget, transparency in the publication of results, and a commitment that no unallocated funds will remain unused when there are students who are entitled to them.
“It is unacceptable for funds to remain unused while high-achieving students are forced to interrupt or downgrade their studies,” the Federation points out.
This article was originally published in the Politis daily newspaper.