More than 2,700 applicants applied for the Public
Service Commission (PSC) Scholarship for the 2016 cycle, a
five-year high.
PSC chairman Eddie Teo said the number of applicants
was a 13 per cent increase compared to last year.
A total of 73 scholarships were awarded at the award
ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Copthorne Waterfront
Hotel yesterday (July 20).
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Teo Chee Hean, in his keynote
address, said PSC officers need to have "deep knowledge and hard
skills", and they have to "be prepared to roll up your sleeves, get
into the details, and do the implementation work".
Said DPM Teo: "The public service must not be an
organisation unto itself.
"It must be out there with Singaporeans, working with
Singaporeans, to make Singapore better."
Mr Tan Jing Yu William, 20, formerly an engineering
student in Singapore Polytechnic, was among those awarded the PSC
Scholarship to pursue a joint degree in Engineering and Business
Management in the Singapore University of Technology and Design and
the Singapore Management University.
Mr Tan said the driving force behind him excelling
academically was his late grandfather, who was diagnosed with
dementia in 2013. When alive, his grandfather's mood used to
fluctuate. However, his grandfather's mood "would be quite good for
a few days if he found out that I did well", added Mr Tan.
"So I thought that since there's nothing much I can do
for him, maybe just do whatever little bit I can, so that started
my trying to do well in school."
A total of 63 PSC Scholarships were awarded this year,
including those from the foreign, legal and teaching services.
In addition, seven scholarships from the Singapore
Armed Forces (SAF) and three from the Singapore Police Force (SPF)
were also awarded yesterday.
ST