ISLAMABAD    -   The federal government is going to allocate Rs250 million under the ongoing scheme of award of 1600 scholarships to students from Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in the budget 2024-25, it has been learnt.

The on-going scheme will get the amount under the head of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). In 2019, under the Prime Minister’s directive, the federal government had planned to reserve some 1,600 scholarships for students from the Indian occupied territories so as to provide educational opportunities to students from the region. The scholarship programme serves as a means to enable students from Indian Occupied Kashmir to pursue higher education. These 1,600 scholarships will be offered at educational institutions operating under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in the federal capital.

Furthermore, the government has increased the budget for the federal government education sector to Rs20 billion from Rs8 billion in the budget 2023-24. Some new schemes in education sectors have also been added to the PSDP 2024-25. An amount of Rs100 million has been allocated in the PSDP under the “Challenge Fund to Address the Out of School Children (OOSC) Crisis in Pakistan”. Rs225 million has been allocated for establishment of Pakistan Boy Scouts Cadet College at Sharaqpur, Sheikhupura. Separately six Daanish Schools will be established in AJK and an amount of Rs500 million will be allocated under the PSDP. One such school has also been proposed to be established in Karachi as well.