MACL grants ten scholarships in Malaysia

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), operator of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, has presented scholarships worth MVR 3.8 million in Malaysia, to ten students.

The ceremony to hand over the scholarships, by the company fully owned by the government, was held at VIP lounge at the airport this morning.

Certificates were presented to scholarship recipients by Chairman of MACL Mohamed Umar Manik, Managing Director of MACL Bandhu Ibrahim Saleem, board members of MACL and Minister of State for Education Aminath Ali.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman Mohamed Umar Manik highlighted the importance given by the company to education of Maldivians.

“We have been doing this, and the decision by the company to grant ten undergraduate scholarships, is proof of this. My request from the students who receive the scholarships and their parents is, don’t let this money go to waste, return with good grades, and continue to serve your country,” he said.

Manik went on to say that the future of the country belongs to educated, talented people.

“We are providing this opportunity to create educated, talented youth in the country. The country’s future belongs to them. We don’t want people who try to destroy the country,” he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Bandhu Saleem said that the company needs trained people in different areas, and requested the Board to cooperate in the efforts to carry out such programs in the future.

This scholarship program was initiated by the previous airport operator, GMR. The scholarship program is continued by MACL after the agreement with GMR was terminated, and the operation of the airport was handed over to MACL on 8 December.

MACL said that course fee, accommodation, food and ticket will be covered under this scholarship. Sums of MVR 100,230 per year and MVR 212,796 per year are spent on students in India and Malaysia respectively, said MACL.

The areas of study for the students who received scholarships this year are Bachelor of Arts, Business Management and Finance; Bachelor of Science, Information Technology in Forensic Computing; Bachelor of Arts, Accounting and Finance; and Bachelor of Arts, International Business Management.

The universities from which the scholarships were granted are University of Nottingham, Help Academy, KDU University College, Asia Pacific University and Sunway College.

MACL said that so far, scholarships have been granted to 24 students, and that since 8 December 2012, their expenses are managed by MACL.