ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a portal Thursday to facilitate students in registering complaints regarding scholarships, and to ensure meritocracy and transparency in the award of these grants.
Linked with the Prime Minister Citizen Portal, the facility would help the scholarship holders to register their complaints regarding the problems faced by them besides ensuring the judicious use of the allocated resources.
Currently, the government is reportedly spending Rs28 billion to support the education of around 2.6 million students, out of which at least 72 percent are women.
During the launch ceremony in Islamabad, the prime minister said that a team of academics would constantly oversee the portal and guide the government in granting scholarships in particular subjects keeping in view the needs of the market as well as the country.
Imran said the government had been receiving complaints from the students for being neglected in the award of grants or delays in the payment of scholarships.
These complaints prompted the government to introduce a technology-based centralized system to set verification criteria for the scholarships, he added.
“Through these scholarships, we can decide the future course of the country’s development,” he said, adding, “The purpose of the education system should be nation-building…considering the technology revolution, we should direct our youth towards technology.”
The prime minister said the government also launched a Rahmatullil Alamin Scholarship to acquaint the youth with the leadership qualities of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the principles of the state of Madina.
According to the PM, it was the government as well as society’s responsibility to guide the youth towards technology and humanity. The premier said the portal would also help “save the time of the students and make them focus on their education who otherwise had to go from pillar to post to register their scholarship-related complaints”.
The prime minister also congratulated the team of the Prime Minister Delivery Unit for putting in their efforts to launch the system and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) for their education standard.
Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said the incumbent government increased the number of scholarships under the prime minister’s vision. The government allocated Rs123 billion for the higher education sector, including Rs42 billion for new schemes. Moreover, 28 new universities had been established during the last three years
