The Government has approved a SBD$25 million dollar rescue package to provide some 200 additional scholarships for Solomon Islands students this year.

The Office of the Prime Minister announced today that the additional scholarships were approved by Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday.

In a statement today, the Prime Minister's Office said the Government funding will provide additional places for students who have had good GPAs, but could not be selected because there was no funding this year.

Only 34 scholarships were awarded initially this year.

This was due largely to failure by former Education minister to respond on time to a request by the Papua New Guinea Government for the Solomon Islands to indicate its requirement in terms of the number of tertiary places this year.

While the exact number for the scholarships is being worked out, the SBD$25 million dollars rescue package will be available for both pre-service and in-service Scholarships overseas this year.

The funding will be administered by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development.