KARACHI:
A recent investigation conducted into the provision of higher education in the province has opened a new Pandora’s box, highlighting unfair distribution of annual scholarships worth billions, by the Sindh government.
Sindh Education Endowment Fund (SEEF) was launched in the year 2002 to facilitate students of Sindh unable to afford the cost of higher education, who secure merit-based admissions in public and private universities.
Despite the government’s good intentions, it seems that thousands of financially disadvantaged students from several universities, including Karachi University-the province’s largest public sector institution- have been unable to avail the scholarship for 19 consecutive years!
Karachi University was finally granted access to the scholarship in the year 2020, while the endowment fund also expanded its reach with the addition of new disciplines including Pharmacy, Law, Accountancy, Finance and Education. However, the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, is yet to be added to the list of scholarships. Owing to which, several undergraduate and master’s level students from Karachi and other districts of Sindh, enrolled at the university, will once again be left out of the scholarship net despite the upgrades to the programme.
It is pertinent to mention that the SEEF scholarships are sanctioned through the Sindh Department of College Education and its board of trustees include the secretary school education, the secretaries of other departments including secretary finance and secretary services general admin department, besides the managing director of Sindh Education Foundation.
This time Karachi University has also been granted membership in this committee, while the Sindh Education Minister presides over the decision making board regarding scholarships.
Also read: Too little, too late? Sindh HEC to award 380 scholarships
According to relevant documents available with The Express Tribune, the scholarship programme recently opened its doors to a number of universities attended by students from middle and lower class socio-economic backgrounds.
With an upgrade to the programme, the total number of scholarships have increased to more than 1,500 in theory, but the decision for a final go-ahead is still pending with the Sindh education Minister for the past two months. Owing to this factor, the SEEF has been unable to provide the said scholarships to students.
Interestingly, where it took SEEF over 19 years to consider including the province’s largest public sector university to its scholarship programme, there are several public and private universities which have had the luxury of being awarded separate scholarships for each of their campuses.
It is worth mentioning that the Sindh government has also selected some public and private universities for the students studying outside the province for the Sindh Educational Endowment Fund.
The Federal Urdu University is nowhere to be found on the list of eligible institutions.
Speaking in this regard College Education Department Endowment Funds Additional Secretary Faqir Muhammad Lakho said that SEEF scholarships are only awarded to institutions which apply for it. “The Federal Urdu University has not applied for the said scholarship, “ he commented.
When probed about the exclusion of Karachi University and other universities from the scholarship, the additional secretary said that these scholarships are only awarded to professional institutions. “That is why Institute of Business Administration (IBA) was selected in Karachi, and is awarded scholarships in certain subjects,” Lakho asserted.
It should however be noted that the subjects which IBA is awarded scholarships for are also taught at Karachi University, Sindh Madrasa-Tul-Islam and Lyari University
Addressing the programme upgrade, Faqir Mohammad Lakhoo said that advertisement for the scholarship will be issued in the same month after the approval of the Minister of Education. “An amount of Rs 3.5 billion has been reserved for grants till 2029, while scholarships have now been increased from 1,100 to 1,800 in total,” he told The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2021.
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