Professional education: Accounting body launches scholarships with Sindh govt

ICAP to provide youth with educational and work opportunities.

KARACHI: Osama Yousuf, 21, had few career choices when he received his higher secondary school certificate from Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Science College Mirpur Khas last year. However, thanks to the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme (BBSYDP), Yousuf is now going to get a first-rate professional education on full scholarship besides getting a decent monthly stipend from the government of Sindh.

Yousuf is one of the 10 students, who will study chartered accountancy at a Registered Accounting Educational Tutor (RAET), approved by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), for two years and go on to complete their practical training for the next three years to become a fully qualified certified chartered accountant.

Sindh Youth Affairs Minister Faisal Sabzwari signed a memorandum of understanding with ICAP President Rashid Rahman Mir on Thursday, which will result in collaboration of the Sindh government with ICAP to provide the unemployed youth of the province with better educational and work opportunities.

Besides chartered accountancy scholarships, the third phase of BBSYDP will finance two short training skill development programmes in accountancy, corporate law and taxation to be held at ICAP.

The two short training programmes will have 20 students each. With two months of coaching classes and six months of practical training, the programme aims to equip students with theoretical understanding and application of accountancy, corporate law and taxation practices.

“I was interviewed by two members of ICAP about six months ago for this scholarship. I spoke for half an hour enthusiastically about my dream of becoming a manager in a company,” Yousuf said, adding that there was no written test and the selection was based on interview and past academic performance.

According to ICAP Manager Education and Training Tajwar Baig, 250 students applied for the 40 seats available for the eight-month training programmes. The number of applicants for the comprehensive chartered accountancy programme was 120, she told The Express Tribune.

The monthly stipend for Karachi-based students will be Rs2,500 while students from other districts of the province will get Rs3,000 a month from the Sindh government.

Baig stated that the competition was open and there were no quotas on the basis of gender or the rural-urban domicile.

Addressing the students earlier, Sabzwari said that they should remember to give back to society once they complete their professional education being funded by taxpayers’ money. “As someone who belongs to a lower middle-class family, I can tell you how blessed you are to have this opportunity. Back in the day, we also needed such opportunities, but there were none.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2012.