SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Education (MOE) has stated that only 0.7 per cent of international students on scholarships here are from India, as it sought to dispel online rumours that it was giving scholarships only to students of Indian nationality.

The ministry said in a Facebook post on Friday (Dec 6) that it was aware of such discussions taking place “online and in messaging apps”, and that it wanted to lay out the facts.

For instance, it said that international students on scholarships make up just 0.9 per cent of Singapore’s secondary and pre-university students.

Of these international students, about 0.7 per cent of them are from India — which roughly equates to one student in 16,000, it added.

“MOE provides a wide range of scholarships and financial aid, predominantly to Singaporeans,” said the ministry.

The statement added that it awards a “small number of scholarships” to promising students from the Asean nations, India and China.

“While here, they help promote goodwill and understanding among young people from different countries,” it said. “Over time, some have become permanent residents and citizens, sunk roots here, and contributed to Singapore.”

One of MOE’s most vocal critics on this issue has been opposition politician Lim Tean, who heads the People’s Voice Party.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Mr Lim questioned why a Singaporean primary school girl was being “humiliated” over unpaid school fees, while the ministry was giving out scholarships to students of Indian nationality.

Mr Lim was referring to a recent incident that saw a spirited public debate — even Temasek Holdings chief executive Ho Ching chimed in — over MOE’s practice of withholding original Primary School Leaving Examination results slips from students due to school-fee arrears.

The family of the student that Mr Lim mentioned was facing financial difficulties, and she owed her school S$156. Mr Lim had incorrectly stated it as S$165 in his post.

“The PAP government is already allowing so many Indian families to come into our country under Ceca, and yet MOE is still giving out scholarships to Indian students such as the one below,” said Mr Lim. Ceca refers to the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, a bilateral free trade agreement.

The agreement had come under the spotlight in recent months following an incident where JP Morgan employee Ramesh Erramilli was filmed abusing a security guard at his condominium. Married to a Singapore-born citizen, he had become a Singapore citizen under the Family Ties scheme.

Mr Lim has been a strong opponent of Ceca, and had even spoken against it at a protest rally at Hong Lim Park in early November.

In his post on Thursday, Mr Lim included a link to an Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) Youth Scholarship page on the MOE’s website.

One of the criteria listed stated that the applicant needed to be an Indian national.

The MOE said in its post that it works with different organisations, including A*Star and Singapore Airlines, to administer some of the scholarship schemes, with each targeting a different country.

“MOE will look into amending the websites, so as not to give the impression that the scholarships only target students from a particular country,” it said.