Reserve university seats for FATA students, Nawaz directs provinces

Prime Minister says that this would facilitate the mainstreaming of students in tribal areas.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday directed universities in all four provinces to keep reserved seats for students hailing from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in educational institutes and universities.

They were directed to reserve 2% of the total number of seats for students hailing from FATA.

The Cabinet Division, Standards in Higher Education and National Health Services were also directed to make similar arrangements for institutes in Islamabad.

The Prime Minister issued the directives with the objective of mainstreaming FATA students so that they could help in contributing to tribal areas and serve as agents of change.

The Prime Minister observed that FATA was going through challenging times and that there was a dearth of quality educational institutes in the areas.

"The situation warrants urgent action from all concerned," he asserted.