In good faith: UoP employees contribute to help needy students

Staff will donate a fixed amount each month according to their ranks.

PESHAWAR: The University of Peshawar (UoP) has established a welfare fund with donations from employees to provide financial assistance to the university’s needy students.

A meeting chaired by UoP Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Rasul Jan and attended by heads of all academic and administrative departments in March took the decision amid budget cuts by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and other university donors. As a result, funding for the students assistance programme to universities had dried up.

The fund was set up in April to provide tuition fees and fulfil other needs of deserving students. “Fee concession to needy students was not going to be extended due to lack of funds and it was feared that some students might drop out,” UoP spokesperson Akhtar Amin told The Express Tribune.

The deans and heads of some departments also echoed the concern, claiming at least two or three students in their department may drop out.

Donations will be provided from the upcoming academic year, Amin said, adding the UoP would waive around Rs20 million in tuition fees annually. This could not be done for the past two years because of the university’s poor financial position, he claimed.

Previously, financial aid would be given based on recommendations of a departmental committee, which would interview a student and review his/her sponsor’s utility bills and monthly income.

The welfare fund will allow UoP to resume the student assistant programme. “This is a great initiative and excellent philanthropy on the part of the university staffers,” Amin said.

Jan said the fund should preferably be managed by a committee headed by a sitting dean. “Philanthropy is the hallmark of our nation and promoting education in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) would be the best practice,” he added.

Rank	Contribution per month
Professor	Rs500
Associate Professor	Rs400
Assistant Professor	Rs300
Lecturers	Rs200
University Officers	Rs300
Class three	Rs100
Class four	Rs50

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2013.