close
Thursday March 28, 2024

PM Imran Khan to give away Ehsaas scholarships on March 2

By Our Correspondent
February 29, 2020

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan will give away need-based Ehsaas undergraduate scholarships to the first batch of deserving students on March 2.

This four-year Rs24 billion initiative will support 200,000 students (50% girls) from low-income backgrounds. As part of the Ehsaas scholarships policy, 2% scholarships will be exclusively awarded to students with special needs. Overall, 50,000 scholarships will be given every year to enhance financial access to higher education for the deserving. The continuation of scholarship in following years will depend upon the maintenance of academic performance.

The need and merit-based scholarship covers tuition fee as well as a living stipend. The prime objective of Ehsaas scholarships program is to ensure that no eligible student is deprived of higher education because of financial need.

This program is unique as it reflects a historic shift in scholarship policy of the government. Unlike past scholarships that aimed at MS or PhD level programs, this project specifically focuses on undergraduate education, which is the surest way of rising out of poverty.

Following the official launch of the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarships by the PM on November 4, 2020, the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) online portal had been opened for applications till Dec 24, 2020. By the closing date, 132,192 undergraduate students (49,841 girls) had applied for scholarships for the academic year 2019-20 under the first phase of the project.

All students from low-income backgrounds studying in undergraduate programmes across 119 public sector universities recognized by HEC were eligible to apply. Subsequently, the universities’ scholarship award committees made provisional decisions based on applications and documents received and recommended them for ratification by the programme steering committee.

The provisional decisions were confirmed after formal ratification as well as follow-up scrutiny including income verification, verification of supporting documents, and personal interviews by the scholarship award committee.

Reflecting on the significance of the programme, the PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar stated, “Pakistan has one of the youngest populations in the world and the government could not afford to waste the demographic dividend that is key to building a strong and sustainable economy. By offering these scholarships to deserving brightest minds across our country, we are enriching the Pakistani workforce and investing in the leaders of tomorrow.”