Stipends board looking into complaints

The Stipends Board is looking into complaints by students who are not receiving a stipend for following or repeating a course or part of it at the same level a second time, the Education Ministry said yesterday.

A legal notice governing the granting of stipends stipulates that these students are not entitled to a stipend, the ministry said. They would only receive it once they reached a higher level of education. By way of example, a spokesman said that if a student was receiving a stipend while studying to obtain 'A' level certification in a particular subject, the individual would not be entitled to a stipend if he later studies to obtain certification in other subjects at the same level.

This procedure has been followed for a number of years, the ministry said.

The ministry was reacting to a call for an explanation by Labour MPs Carmelo Abela and Justyne Caruana about why certain Mcast students had ended up without a stipend.

Meanwhile, the ministry has issued a Smart Card worth Lm100 to students not receiving a stipend because of provisions in the Legal Notice, intending to help them to buy books and other educational material.