KP govt reduces Afghan students’ fees in medical, dental colleges

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, on the recommendation of Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar, has decided to significantly reduce the fees of Afghan students studying in public sector medical and dental colleges of the province and make their fees equal to those of Pakistani students.

The decision had been taken in the light of a recent meeting between KMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ziaul Haq and senior officials of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar.

The KMU authorities had promised to take up the matter with the provincial government and now on the recommendation of the KMU, the provincial government has ordered KMU to charge an annual fee of Rs50,000 to Afghan students, instead of Rs800,000.

The Afghan students and their parents have extended special thanks to the provincial government and KMU for this decision.

Meanwhile, Prof Dr Ziaul Haq appreciated the decision of the Department of Health to make a revolutionary reduction in the fees of Afghan students and hoped that on the one hand, this decision would provide opportunities for Afghan students to continue their education and on the other it would also give a new impetus to Pak-Afghan relations.

He said that at present thousands of Afghan students were studying in various Pakistani educational institutions, which is a testament to Pak-Afghan friendship. He said that the recent decision to reduce the fees of medical and dental colleges was in addition to the concessions under which thousands of Afghan students were availing huge scholarships worth millions of rupees in the form of the Allama Iqbal Scholarship by the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.

Dr Ziaul Haq said that Pakistan attached great importance to its bilateral relations with the Afghan people and they also wanted to open a KMU sub-campus in Kabul in the near future with the cooperation of HEC and the federal government, for which necessary paperwork has been underway and he would soon visit Kabul in this respect.