HOPE PROGRAMME
HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) is an education sponsorship program that was formed to facilitate the academic requirement for excellent students. High academically achieving students have seen their certificates, diploma, and degrees funded by the program for the universities within Georgia. The program supports the post-secondary studies including; public technical higher learning institutions, and both private and public universities explicitly. HOPE is locally funded by the Georgia lottery for an education initiative. Governor Zell Miller’s credited for the blueprint. Under his guidance, the program was created in 1993.
Student funding is controlled by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). It is estimated that as per 2018 statistics, the program had assisted more than 1.8 million students since its creation. Its merit-based selection method has only lead to the support of the best students. In its infancy stage, students coming from well family (family income more than $100,000) were considered ineligible. Their main student selection criterion is a score of 3.0 grade at secondary school. More preference is given to those students who have gone through hope preparatory schools.
Legislative changes have continuously changed how the program administers the scholarships, with the recent changes discriminating against students alongside age. The award has partially succeeded in its initial objectives of helping students achieve their dreams. 1.8 million students are an impressive success. But the program has failed in many of its decisions.
The modern education system is faced by diverse and ever-changing challenges, which can be broadly categorized into school-based and student-based. Currently, schools are expected to analyze the market and tailor their studies to produce students who meet their needs. Recognition of student talents and academic character is vital in the current system too. Some of these factors are not related to how the student passes the secondary exams.
On the other hand, students are affected by many factors ranging from personal, family to racial discrimination. For instance, many students from drug-addicted families have been found to have psychological challenges that affect their studies. Furthermore, passion for education is something that changes. A student can fail in secondary school and end up being the best in his college. Thus limiting the scholarship to secondary achievement is wrong in the modern world. Despite its success, the HOPE program has limited scope and cannot withstand the dynamic tides of contemporary education. Therefore, it is not a worthwhile program to address the devolved education funding.
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