ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will launch the "Prime Minister's Fee Reimbursement Scheme for the Less Developed Areas" in Quetta on Wednesday.
The scheme is aimed at encouraging talented students of the less developed areas in their pursuit of higher education by reimbursing the 100% cost of the educational expenses of the post-graduate students undertaking Masters, M.Phill and PhD level degrees. "The Scheme will be a game changer for the socio-economic development of the country by promoting higher education and research", remarked Chairperson of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
She further said that the students doing post graduate studies from a Higher Education Commission's approved public sector educational institution and domiciled in interior Sindh, Southern Punjab (Multan, Bahawalpur and DG Khan), Balochistan, less developed areas of KP (Malakand, Kohistan and DI Khan), GB and FATA are eligible.
She maintained that 30,000 post-graduate students across Pakistan while 3,852 students of Balochistan will benefit from the scheme and added that eligibility criterion is based purely on merit with proportionate regional representation including minority students.
50% quota has been reserved for female students in this scheme, the Chairperson said. The Scheme is being launched at a cost of Rs. 1.2 billion.
Chairperson PM Youth Programme has also stated that all the developed countries of the world have progressed through human resource development and in order to achieve this objective, they invested heavily in education and research.
She said that the scheme is a major stride in this regard as this scheme will sponsor 100% educational expenses for higher studies of the students hailing from less developed areas.