Innumerable scholarship holders

There has been an impassioned wrangle over whether the children of the affluent should be deprived of scholarships simply because of the trappings that come with it. It is an ironic situation whereby scholarships are meant to equitably bestow upon anyone who has education merit. It also turns the principle of meritocracy on its head and overlooks the intrinsic fact that secular scholarships should be destitute of all divergent traits except for brilliance, leadership calibre and flawless demeanor.

The fact of tarring the young of today with the same brush, just because of incidents where affluent scholars demean themselves, is as discriminatory as being chauvinistic. Most of the detractors who castigate scholars' misbehavior are senior citizens, and they suppose that the younger generations have the same luxury of their leisurely refinements of life, of which they had relished earlier. It is their wrong perception that every graduate has a murky persona that make it look like unbridled stereotyping. If they care to look around them today, there is an abundance of young people who are sagacious and virtuous, are intelligent and well-nurtured, and we should not deride them for the sake of prejudices.

There are many scholarship holders who do their tasks assiduously and meekly, They do not crave for popularity with their ground-breaking breakthroughs in research, nor do they expect to become a tycoon. And the beauty is that they come from a smorgasbord of backgrounds, be it rich or poor, healthy or murky.

The lesson is that scholarships must continue to be awarded to deserving people. Whether you are rich or not, it must not affect the scholarship grant. Our intrinsic quality is being human; everyone is a human, so what is so different being rich or poor, as long as you have the wit to excel?