Many Bahraini graduates complain that they are being denied government scholarships to study medicine and other specialisations of their choice just because of their religious sect. Photo credit: Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 3.0 The Bahraini government is being accused of “gambling with the future of its youth.” The allegations follow the announcement of government scholarships, which many students, their parents and observers have described as “discriminatory” against the country's Shiite high school graduates, many of whom come from unprivileged families and who need funding to afford higher education and a better future. A heated debate is taking place in Bahrain about the criteria for the selection of scholarship recipients. In addition to accounting for their overall grades, the Ministry of Education has set aside 40 per cent of the scholarship assessment to a personal interview, in which some students have complained they were asked about their religious sect and political affiliations. According to activists and Bahraini citizens, the government's track record suggests discrimination against the Shiite students when granting scholarships, especially those who expressed opposing views to those of the government. Their views and frustrations were compiled on an active Twitter hashtag in Arabic that translates to “the massacre of scholarships” which details how many of the country's brightest students have been deprived from scholarships or given specialisations they have no interest in. Most top students want to study medicine and engineering, which they cannot afford to study without scholarships. According to Suad Al Khawaja, more than 12,000 tweets were unleashed on Twitter under the hashtag, with no favourable reaction from the government: أكثر من ١٢ ألف تغريدة حول #مجزرة_البعثات ولاحياة لمن تنادي وبعدين استنكروا بيان منظمة حقوقية او جمعية سياسية!! pic.twitter.com/P2qG4vNCik — Suad Alkhawaja (@SuadAK) July 19, 2015 More than 12,000 tweets under the massacre of scholarships hashtag and no reaction from those it addresses. And then they [the government] will condemn the statement of a rights movement or a political society Free Prisoner, a prominent account on Twitter, tweeted to his 17.3K followers: وزارة الداخلية و قوة الدفاع كانوا و لازالوا يرفضون اعطاء اي بعثة او وظيفة لشيعة!! وفي السنوات الاخيرة انضمت لهم وزارة التربية #مجزرة_البعثات — Freeprisoner (@freedoctors84) July 20, 2015 The Interior Ministry and the Defence Force were and still are refusing to give any scholarships or a position to the Shiites. And in recent years, the Ministry of Education joined them. Former member of parliament for Alwefaq National Islamic Society Ali Alaswad tweeted a photograph of a recently published report by Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, an NGO operating in Sweden and the UK. صورة من تقرير @SALAM_DHR التمييز في البعثات هو إحدى الكوارث التي تقوم بها السلطة في #البحرين حيث تغيب الشفافية pic.twitter.com/zrhxY378he — Ex MP Ali Alaswad (@am_aswad) July 19, 2015 An image of @SALAM_DHR's report. Discrimination in scholarships is one of the disasters by the authorities in Bahrain, where transparency is absent. The report confirms people's speculations about systematic government discrimination. It states that despite the large numbers of Shiite students and educated graduates, most high positions at the Ministry of Education are held by Sunnis, and a very small number is given to the Shiites. The report also states that Shiites are not only being excluded from scholarship programs, but are subjected to obstacles and difficulties when trying to continue their higher education. The report refers to the University of Bahrain (UOB) giving opportunities and paving the way for their Sunni employees, while complicating the same opportunities for their Shiite employees to earn a Master degree abroad. This is also reflected in executive positions at UOB, where they are filled with Sunni employees rather than Shiites, according to the report.