Well, if the government is truly OF, FOR and BY the PEOPLE then we are ignoring our obligations to our youth attending the colleges and universities on the mainland. The semester is almost over and OUR government’s finance department has still failed to process the checks for these students’ education — the very same LOCAL students we are depending upon to return and run the future of the CNMI. The CNMI & SHEFFA Scholarship offices can only ask for the money but it is the Governor’s Office that determines who and when these checks will be processed.
The education of our future leaders and professionals is second only to health and public safety but they are not being prioritized in that prospective and the truth is in the details of government spending. Many parents took out loans last year just to keep their child in school and now we are faced with the same challenge of taking on our government’s responsibility and commitment to our youth. As they say on the Sports Channel “COME ON MAN” (Governor) the father figure of our government needs to get busy and take care of the children in this family who represent our future.
The future of the CNMI will be literally hanging on the edge of local and non-local leadership and professionals in the not too distant future. The changes in the future workforce are REAL and we had better start taking it seriously by making sure our youth are ready to shoulder more of the responsibility in the leadership and professional workforce. If we don’t help our youth who are attending college the future workforce will be doomed to depend more on non-local leaders and professionals. It should be noted that some CNMI students have already dropped out due to the inconsistent help from our government and this delay could cause more.
SHEFFA and the CNMI Scholarship Office need to prioritize the out-of-state students when it comes to submitting checks for processing. Students on the mainland are TOTALLY dependent upon these checks to supplement their housing, food and transportation unlike students in the CNMI.
Students on the mainland are now facing the possibility of not having a place to stay, no money for food and other vital needs that students in the CNMI will never face. In other words, help the students who need help the most FIRST — it is a basic life saving concept that should be applied to the check distribution process!
Come On, Governor, please do something to help our youth, especially those who are out on a limb living on the mainland waiting for YOU to rescue them from their financial crisis. I’m sure if you will think of them as YOUR children it will make the job very easy for you to get done, because they are your responsibility in reality and our future so fulfill your obligations to them. One People One Direction for meeting our obligations to our children — something nobody can deny or protest!!!
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
