Members of the National Legislative Assembly have questioned the selection process for scholarships abroad.

There are scholarships offered by Egypt, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Malaysia governments.

Some members of parliament said some students could use fake certificates to compete for the scholarships.

The Minority Leader, Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec, said there should be a clear procedure for evaluating the certificates.

“There are some certificates [from foreign countries] being brought in and some people will have high competition because they have high marks and we don’t know whether these are real certificates or no,” said Hon Adigo.

“What criteria do you use in order to evaluate these certificates? Do you have a committee in the Ministry which evaluates these certificates?”

The National Minister of Education, John Gai Yoh, was summoned by the parliament, to clarify the selection process.

He said for students who studied abroad have to be verified by the foreign ministry of that country.

“When they come to us here, they come to our minister of high education; there is a directorate for authentication which is part of the admission and then they go to our ministry of foreign affairs,” Mr Gai confirmed.

MPs also said people with disabilities should be given special consideration for scholarship.