43 students will be leaving in the next week to travel to the United States of America to study there through Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Scholarship. The STEM Scholarship is funded by the Papua New Guinea government through the Education department. Secretary for Education, Dr Uke Kombra said that this concept was brought about by Prime Minister James Marape when he was the Education Minister in 2009. “He (Marape) introduced this concept for the National Executive Council to approve and the policy was not implemented until 2017.” “In 2020, the NEC approved the Policy, and it was launched by the Prime Minister himself.” “60 students were selected originally but few have withdrawn but today we will see 43 of them receive their scholarships.” “Basically, the students that come into the Schools of Excellence (SOE) were the top students from the grade 10 National Examinations in 2020 and once they were in the SOE, they were the top students in Grade 12 examinations that they sat for in 2022.” Dr Kombra said that there is no set criteria as yet however students that were selected took up STEM subjects and topped the National Examinations. The 43 students are currently studying in different tertiary institutions across the country, and they will continue their studies at one of the two universities, South Dakota State University and Nicholls State University. The scholarship includes travel expenses, boarding, tuition fees and living allowance for the scholarship recipients. Dr Kombra added that the government is looking at educating the human resources of the country and this scholarship program is the start for that. He wished them all the best in their studies as they prepared to leave the country to go take up studies at the two selected universities.