Sindh govt yet to award cash promised to students in 2021

None of the 152,101 students of seven education boards of Sindh who had secured the A-1 grade in their matriculation and intermediate examinations in 2021 have received the Rs25,000 promised to them as their award.

The provincial government had promised to award these high-achievers, and an amount of over Rs3.8 billion was to be disbursed to the seven education boards. However, due to an apparent lack of interest and unserious attitude on the part of the government, these high-achievers are still waiting for their award.

Now, after a lapse of a year, another batch of those who secured the A-1 grade in 2022 has queued up for the same promise. Interestingly, Universities & Boards Secretary Mureed Rahimoon claimed being completely unaware of the situation.

“Those who had secured the A-1 grade in 2021 have already been awarded the money,” he alleged. When The News asked how it was possible for seven education boards to award the money that the government was yet to allocate, he had no reply.

Rahimoon made the assurance of responding after gathering information from the relevant quarters. However, several days have passed since that interaction, and his reply is still awaited.

According to official figures, 152,101 students had secured the A-1 grade in the matric and inter exams of 2021: 48,276 and 12,724 of of Karachi’s matric and inter boards respectively, 26,417 of Hyderabad’s matric and inter boards, 12,478 of the Mirpurkhas board, 16,495 of the Nawabshah board, 17,044 of the Sukkur board, and 18,667 of Larkana’s matric and inter boards.

Board of Secondary Education Karachi Chairman Prof Sharaf Ali Shah said: “The money for the students who had secured the A-1 grade in the 2021 exams hasn’t been released yet.”

He added: “Earlier, it was said that the number of A-1 grade students was high, so reduce the number by sending the list of students who had scored 90 per cent or more. That list was also sent, then a meeting was held three months ago, but nothing has happened yet.”