Students get a glimpse of triple-sharing hall rooms - Nanyang ...

40opinionMARCH 10, 2008The nanyang chronicleBondless for more successBonded scholarships areincreasingly a thing ofthe past, as governmentsand organisations areseeing the merits ofbond-free ones. CereliaLim offers her viewIt is that time of the yearagain—the A-level resultshave been released andalready, copies of Scholars’Choice have hit the newsstands.Scholarships allow talentedstudents to continue their studieswithout worrying about the costof education.In addition, scholarships areprestigious and support academicexcellence.Singapore’s education systemwas revamped in the 1970s to bebased on merit.That is to say, success is notby any means dependant on yoursocioeconomic status but purelyon your ability.During that very same period,the idea of offering overseasscholarships was mooted toprovide our most intellectuallycapable and gifted students withan opportunity to study at someof the finest universities abroad.It was naturally expectedthat these students will serve thesponsoring organisation upontheir graduation. Very often,these students were more thanhappy to do so as they foresaw apromising academic and careerpath laid in front of them.However, since the 1990s,there have been reports of studentswanting to break their bonds.For example, in July 2004,Chen Jiahao, a former PublicSer vice Commission scholar,broke his bond after studyingoverseas for two years.Suddenly, it seems the naturalexpectation of ser ving yoursponsoring organisation is notthat natural after all.This begs the question: willa bond-free scholarship be morebeneficial to our society?In many western countries,like the US, most scholarshipsare bondless.A good example would be theRhodes scholarship, which enablescapable students from territoriesunder British rule to study at theUniversity of Oxford.As long as the student has theability, his or her education willbe sponsored by the organisationand no repayment of any form isexpected.The result of this system isthat it fosters a spirit of loyaltyand a desire to give back to thesponsoring organisation, if notthe society.This, in turn, leads to theoffer of additional scholarships,benefiting more students.Here in NTU, we have twoscholarships that are bond-free,namely the Singapore MillenniumFoundation Ltd (SMT) Scholarshipand the Tan Kah Kee postgraduateScholarship. Both scholarshipsare awarded to students of allnationalities at the postgraduatelevel.The man on the streetGRAPHIC | JANELL HOONGmight resent the thought of aninternational student receiving abond-free scholarship. Still, it isextremely important that we haveto look beyond the issue of dollarsand cents in this situation.After all, these scholarshipsare given to the most deservingstudents from their homeland. Thescholarship providers probablyhope that upon graduation, thesestudents will decide to stay on inSingapore and contribute to ourieconomy.There are many methods wecan employ to achieve practicallythe same goal. However, themethod that produces the leastresistance with the most returnswill, more often than not, haveterms that honour the recepient’sfree will.As an illustration, compare theworkmanship of a carpenter heldin captivity, forced to producearticles against his will, andthat of another carpenter whoproduces articles from his heart.Clearly, the latter should be heldin higher regard compared to theformer.There is no guarantee thatall students who receive bondfreescholarships will stay on inSingapore but this is by far oneof the best methods of retainingand grooming talent.The success of Silicon Valleywas not the work of Americansalone.Rather, it took many hands ofdifferent nationalities and racesworking together to make it aplace that attracts the best andthe most talented people aroundthe globe.If Singapore wants to becomea hub in Asia that attracts andretains the best, it cannot affordto be seen as stingy. Bond-freescholarships are just the tip ofwhat the government can use toportray a “generous” image.