PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The first scholarship programme for nursing students in the country was launched on Wednesday.
The Rs1.24 billion endowment will benefit more than 4,000 nursing students in their four-year study programme every year. As part of the programme, some 1,000 nursing students will be provided with scholarships at a cost of Rs310 million.
The scholarship was launched by the Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday in a ceremony.
Terming it to be the biggest scholarship programme to promote nursing as a profession in the country, Mahmood said that the four-year scholarship programme is aimed at strengthening the profession. He pointed out that the nursing sector required some 800,000 staff nationwide, but only 80,000 people are currently associated with the profession in the country, a shortfall of over half a million nurses.
Hence, he said that they will not only support more students who want to be nurses but also develop nursing faculty.
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He said that equal opportunity for most deserving but talented students will be provided to students from all areas of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
"We are striving to augment the number of nursing faculty as we need more nursing institutions," the federal education minister said.
He claimed that the country's youth wanted to join the nursing profession and has been waiting for such programmes.
"However, this government is not only offering scholarships to the students but also the nursing staff for increasing the faculty at nursing institutions operating across the country," he said.
In this regard, he said that scholarships will also be offered to pursue post-doctorate studies in nursing. He said the government was taking multiple initiatives to empower the country's youth through skill development programmes so that they could earn a dignified livelihood.
Some 170,000 youngsters will be provided with traditional and modern skills under the Skill for All project, launched by the government under the Kamyab Jawan Programme, he added.
Mahmood further said that the government is also awarding scholarships other fields such as arts and culture through the National Endowment Scholarships for Talent (NEST).
Initially, a budget of Rs310 million has been earmarked for some 1,000 scholarships under NEST which would be given out in 2020.
Uniform curriculum
Mahmood on Wednesday said that new uniform national curriculum, from grades one through six, will be implemented by April 2021.
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He said this while speaking at a day-long conference organised by International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IIRD) on "Yaksan Qoumi Nisab aur Hamara Nizam-e-Taleem" (Uniform National Curriculum and Our Educational System).
The minister said it was their responsibility to create awareness about the uniform national curriculum.
Under the current education system, he said the standard for rich and poor was markedly different and distinct. He added that English medium schools give an edge to their students to grab key posts.
The existence of a parallel education system has dampened the abilities of the nation by producing students with different thinking patterns and capabilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2020.
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