Science scholarships were presented to eight high school and tertiary students on February 15 sponsored by the Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. The awards will help them with their school fees.

The Minister of Education of Education Hon Hu’akavameiliku (Siaosi Sovaleni) presented the scholarships, which totalled around $12,100 pa’anga, at Davina House.

Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (TOML) is a local subsidiary of DeepGreen Metals Inc, which Tonga sponsors to explore polymetallic rocks in international waters.

The Minister in congratulating the students said, the scholarship is recognition of what they have done before and their potential to assist the development of our country.

“The most important asset in Tonga is our people. Our future depends on the quality of education here locally and of course overseas.”

He was also grateful to TOML for encouraging students to study science.

This is because the number of students opting to study science and mathematics in high school and tertiary were low, as students choose lighter and easier subjects to pass, he said.

Deep Green Tonga Country Manager, Christina Pome’e said the scholarships were determined by a passing criteria and would continue to next year, if these students pass up to form seven.

New scholarships will be also available in 2022 for form five and tertiary students.

The Form 5 scholarship recipients were ‘Ana Taufa and Jophiann Ha’unga (Tonga High School), Losana Vaipulu (Beulah College) and Paul Haak (St Peter Chanel College) from Vava’u.

In the tertiary level, recipients included ‘Amelia Mafi, Catherine Toki, Siaosi To’oma’ata and Anthony Lutolofi from the Tonga Maritime Polytechnic Institute.