A Kiribati MP says he's distressed to learn that the number of university scholarships available to students this year has been reduced.
A former Kiribati president, and the current MP for South Tarawa Teburoro Tito says he's been told the number of government-sponsored scholarships has been cut from 60 to 40.
He says he's spoken to the education authorities and is appealing for them to award more scholarships, as they are an important investment in human resources for Kiribati.
"So much effort has gone into the preparation of these young people, to go out into the world, and they come out with very excellent results. And then we tell them that that's the end of their academic career, or the end of their educational aspirations, that to me is very, very distressing."
However, an education official says the Government has not reduced the number of scholarships it gives to students.
The official says there has been a drop in the overall number of scholarships awarded to students due to changes made to the way OzAid and NZAid select scholarship recipients.