Centre promises scholarships to talented students from all provinces

Islamabad: Minister of Education and Professional Training Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Friday said scholarships would be awarded to talented students from all provinces.

He also hoped that the Pakistan Education Endowment Fund would provide educational opportunities to all qualified students, regardless of their background. The minister was presiding over a meeting of the PEEF’s Board of Directors that approved the Rs1 billion annual budget for the fund.

The participants decided that a full-time CEO would be hired to fortify the performance of the organisation. On June 3, the University of Oxford has agreed to provide scholarships to students from Balochistan, under the Benazir Scholarship Program.

The agreement, in this connection, was signed between Oxford University and the government of Balochistan, with Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti and Malala Yousafzai, the global ambassador for girls’ education, in attendance. Officials said under the programme, talented students from Balochistan would receive full scholarships to pursue higher education at Oxford University, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions. They added that the programme was meant to provide access to quality education and empower the youth of Balochistan.

Meanwhile, education minister Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has commended the role of Cambridge Assessment International Education in imparting quality education in the country. He was talking to CAIE country director Uzma Yousaf in a meeting here. Officials told the minister that almost 25 local schools were conducting CAIE exams themselves. The minister called for the expansion of the scope of CAIE in the country. The CAIE country director invited him to visit Cambridge UK to ‘fast track learning of local institutions from the global knowledge base of Cambridge UK.’