SOME sixty students who sat for their A-levels last year, have qualified for government scholarships abroad.
Countries that will receive them include South Africa for engineering and related fields, Mauritius for law and economics, Australia for business, Austria for tourism management and China for art and sports training. India is not a popular choice among students taking medicine.
When granted a scholarship, all students are supposed to sign a contract or bond, which obliges them to return home upon completion of their studies. After all, the state is investing in them and considers that these students owe it something in return.
However, things are not as obvious as they appear at first glance. Despite the bond, barely half the graduates return.
Some of them spend months waiting for a job in Seychelles, a small island state in dire need of qualified manpower. Some just sit around for months waiting for “security clearance". Upon getting a job in government, they get a meagre housing allowance for a two-year period only. It was R1000 for a year. But then doubled by President James Michel in the lead-up to the 2006 presidential poll.
Should one take a job in the private sector, one does not qualify for the allowance. Unlike some other developing countries, returning graduates are not put on a priority list for housing assistance.
Building plots on prime land, such as the ex-Kashogi property at Belombre would have been a good inducement to get Seychellois graduates to return.
In countries like Singapore, students benefiting from a scholarship are guaranteed a job as soon as they get back to their country upon completion of their studies.
Admittedly, it is hard for the government to do a follow-up on students wanting to pursue their studies to the doctorate level after their scholarship ends. So, it becomes even harder to keep contact with them afterwards.
However, this problem can be resolved by refusing to sponsor the post-graduate studies, until the student has worked for a while in Seychelles.
Many parents also encourage their children to remain abroad after their studies because there is no guarantee of a well-paid job on return to the country.
But that's the real issue, the jobs should be well-paid and not in the EP 44-49 income bracket-less than R 5,000 offered to returning graduates.
The country is paying expatriates more and giving them air tickets, a house and other perks this debt-ridden country can ill afford.