A scholarship is a financial aid that is designed to help students further their education. Most schools offer scholarship grants to their students based on different criteria. While need-based scholarships support students from disadvantaged financial backgrounds, merit and skill-based scholarships reward students who show exemplary performance in academics and extracurricular activities.
Students have to meet every individual scholarship’s eligibility criteria to benefit from these scholarships. For instance, GIIS scholarships are designed to help students from kindergarten school to class 12. While some of our scholarships are designed exclusively for high school students, most of them are available for students from all grades.
Everything you should know about scholarships:
How is a scholarship helpful?
Here’s a list of what makes scholarships helpful:
● Scholarships support students financially to help them attain academic excellence. In this sense, scholarships encourage students to pursue their education unhindered and make their dreams come true. A school like GIIS goes the extra mile with its 9GEMS framework. Through its GEMS Scholarship, GIIS Singapore school hopes to nurture nine critical areas of a student’s development and growth such as academic excellence, personality development, sports excellence, skill development, innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship and leadership, visual and performing arts, community and care, and universal value and care.
● Scholarships nurture students’ skills and talent and encourage them to shape and refine them, thus helping them stand out and distinguish themselves from their peers, making them more accomplished in their areas of interest.
● Whether local or international, a scholarship gives students the chance to interact with peers who won the same scholarship, thus creating a networking community. The relationship gets stronger while all of them achieve their set goals.
● Scholarships offer continued support to students as it provides full or partial financing of a student’s tuition fees. As a result, the student gets the opportunity to continue their education unhindered.
● A student gains real-world experience. In case a student benefits from an international scholarship like Global Citizen Scholarship (GSC), the student gets an opportunity to interact with students from different campuses in GIIS. Awardees of this scholarship can study in any of the GIIS campuses in Singapore and learn what it’s like to live by themselves.
Types of Scholarships:
● Merit-based Scholarships: Many students benefit from scholarships in Singapore based on their performance in academics. Any scholarship that considers the student’s academic performance comes under the umbrella term of a merit-based scholarship.
● Athletic or Sports-based Scholarships: This is a niche scholarship available to students showcasing demonstrated expertise in sports. It is awarded to students with exceptional achievements in sports.
● Skill-based Scholarships: These types of scholarships acknowledge a student’s skills in extracurricular activities. Be it dance, music, debate, innovation, or any other skill – skill-based scholarships reward students for their achievements in a particular skill set.
● Brand Scholarships: Brands and business houses typically give this type of scholarship to promote their brand, products, or services. Virgin scholarships are a good example here. The company offers scholarships to meritorious students to study a field like, let’s say, a scholarship based on space, and then employ them in their spaceship company.
● Creative Contest Scholarships: To benefit from this type of scholarship, a student should prove innovative and unique. Students demonstrate their worth for this scholarship after creative submissions.
● Nonprofits and Charitable Scholarships: The two come for cases they call genuine need. The two types of bodies awarding these scholarships decide what they prefer as actual needs.
GIIS Offers a Plethora of Scholarships :
Singapore’s financial assistance scheme established by Singapore’s Ministry of Education offers financial aid to students from low-earning families. However, government scholarships support students till class six, and thus there is a need for other financial aid that will help your child accomplish their academic journey in higher school grades. This is where a GIIS scholarship fits in.
GIIS offers a variety of scholarships to support students from different backgrounds. Our scholarships are designed to nurture all our students across various financial spectrums.
We have introduced need-based, merit-based, and skills-based scholarships to ensure that every student is encouraged to excel in studies and all walks of life.
List of Scholarships offered by GIIS, Singapore:
● 9GEMS Holistic Development Scholarship: This scholarship is designed to help students adapt to the changing trends of time by taking advantage of their strengths, moulding their personalities, and making them well-rounded individuals. It awards students who have achieved an accomplishment in any of the 9 GEMS skills. This scholarship helps the student grow as leaders of the future.
● Global Citizen Scholarship (GIIS): This GIIS scholarship is designed to help your child become a global citizen. Beneficiaries of this scholarship get the opportunity to study in any of the campuses in Singapore. They offer a 75-100% waiver on tuition+boarding fees, thus catering to your child’s education, living, and boarding expenses.
● Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Global Skills Scholarship: This scholarship grant is designed to acknowledge and reward students who have a natural flair for science, technology, and innovation. Technologically inclined students who have been awarded for their talents get the opportunity to avail this exceptional skill-based scholarship. This scholarship gives way to students who want to built their career in technology.
● Mahatma Gandhi Universal Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship: This scholarship grant is for academically accomplished students from low-mid income families. Students get anywhere between 15-80% off on tuition fees based on their family income. To be considered eligible, the student’s gross family income should be less than SGD 160,000.
● Global Future-Ready Scholarship: Awardees of this scholarship get the opportunity to study in GIIS Singapore’ SMART campus: a GIIS flagship school in Singapore. Meritorious students who have achieved 91% and above are considered for this scholarship.
Preparation Tips for GIIS Scholarships :
Before applying for a scholarship in GIIS Singapore, you should understand its financial benefits and eligibility criteria. Knowing the requirements in advance can put you a step ahead of your competitors. Here’s what the application process you should follow:
● Apply for more than one scholarship: You might qualify for different scholarships at GIIS, but you can avail one scholarship grant at a time. We recommend that you apply for several scholarships as you can never be too sure of winning one particular scholarship.
● Keep track of the scholarship deadlines and apply accordingly: Knowing the deadline for scholarship applications will benefit you as it will help you prepare for the grant in advance. Moreover, being vigilant of deadlines ensures that you don’t miss one.
● Be aware of the scholarship criteria: Applying for a scholarship you are not eligible for is a recipe for failure. Check the eligibility criteria before you apply for a given scholarship.
● Be prepared with supporting documents: To prove that you deserve the scholarship, you will need to fashion the appropriate documentation. For our merit-cum-means scholarship, proving your gross family income is a must. Similarly, for merit-based scholarships, you will be required to showcase your report cards. Skills-based scholarships would require you to prove that you have achieved certain accomplishments in a given field.
Bonus Tip for Students:
Applying for scholarships involves a lot of hard work and dedication. An overarching issue is spotting scams. If you search for a scholarship and find too little, vague, or unclear information about it, do not pursue it. For safety reasons, always use official websites, including government or school websites, plus other well-known sites belonging to reputed organizations.
Since scholarships play a pivotal role in providing tuition fee waivers, it subsidizes education for students who need and deserve it. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the various types of scholarships, how scholarships help, their eligibility criteria, and how you can apply for authentic scholarships that align with your specific needs and skill sets.
Team GIIS
Team GIIS is a group of enthusiastic writers who bring the vibrant world of GIIS Singapore to life through engaging blog posts. Dedicated to highlighting the school’s teaching methodology, innovative learning environment, and diverse curriculum options like IB, Cambridge and CBSE, they aim to connect with parents, educators and students, sharing insights and stories that inspire and inform the school community.
