Reviewing Criteria for Government Scholarships

Ms Hany Soh asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in light of the move towards a broader and more inclusive meritocracy, whether the Government is re-evaluating the criteria for awarding scholarships by Ministries and public agencies.

The Public Service selects candidates for scholarships based on a broad set of criteria and merit. Besides academic results, we take into account the candidate's community service records, co-curricular activities achievements, psychometric tests and other assessments that consider a person's values, perseverance, curiosity and adaptability. We actively work with educational institutions at the pre-tertiary and tertiary levels to reach out to students from a wide range of backgrounds. Public sector scholarships have been awarded to students from the polytechnics, schools offering the Integrated Programme and junior colleges.

We will continue to review our scholarship selection criteria to ensure that they remain relevant and effective in identifying outstanding Singaporeans from different backgrounds to come forward and serve Singapore in the Public Service.