Students should not become a part of any slanderous campaign for political vested interests: Maryam Nawaz
ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (SABAH): Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif launched Phase-II of the “Chief Minister Honhar Scholarship Program” at a ceremony held at FAST University in Islamabad on Monday.
Under the programme, which is the largest scholarship programme in the history of Pakistan, scholarships will be given to 30,000 students annually.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said under the Scholarship Program, talented students can get higher education from the best institutions without worrying about their financial condition.
She said the provincial government will make all out efforts to increase the number of scholarship from thirty thousand to fifty thousand.
She said the programme, which has been launched at a cost of 100 million rupees, will provide scholarships to one hundred twenty thousand students of private universities in next four years.
Maryam Nawaz said Punjab government will bear one hundred percent educational expenses of successful students under the Program.
She said students of 65 universities, 12 medical and dental colleges, and 359 colleges in Punjab are receiving Chief Minister Honhar Scholarships.
The Chief Minister said in order to ensure transparency in the Scholarship Program, all applications were received and processed through an online portal. She assured that merit will be observed in awarding the scholarship at all cost.
Maryam Nawaz said students and youth are the future of our country. She said today a total of 2570 students of Rawalpindi Division were given scholarships.
She said 1660 scholarships are for the students of public sector universities, while 637 scholarships are for the students of federal universities, which will be distributed among the students of private sector universities.
The Chief Minister said the Punjab Government is also establishing an Education City in Lahore. She said the provincial government is already providing electric bikes to students and is planning to distribute one hundred thousand e-bikes among youngsters next year. She added that all top universities of the world will be invited to open their campuses at the Education City. She said this will provide world class education to the students at their doorsteps.
The Chief Minister further said she is meticulously planning to give loans upto three hundred million rupees to fresh graduates, enabling them to undertake startups. Besides, the government is also planning to award international scholarships to provide substantial financial assistance to children of Punjab to study abroad at the renowned global universities.
Maryam Nawaz advised that the students should not become a part of any slanderous campaign for political vested interests and only focus towards their studies.
Turning to overall economic situation of the country, Maryam Nawaz said Pakistan’s economic indicators are on positive trajectory, the stock exchange is on rise, and inflation is on decline, which reflects the government’s sincerity and hard work.