KARACHI: A third-year Dow International Medical College student has gone to court as she believes she deserves either a scholarship or a fee concession given that she earned a distinction in her first- and second-year exams. The matter was adjourned for today.
Student Rahima Iqbal gained admission on the overseas Pakistani quota after paying US$10,000.
She filed the petition in 2009, arguing she deserved the concession given that local students are offered a 70-per cent reduction in their fee and a scholarship if they score well.
When Iqbal refused to pay her tuition fee, the college administration refused to let her sit the third-year exams, forcing her to file the petition. Iqbal was later allowed to sit her exams through an interim order passed by the court.
On Wednesday, the Sindh education secretary submitted his comments to the bench and stated that Iqbal had sent a scholarship application to the education and literacy department’s senior minister on October 5, 2009. After going through her application, the department decided that she was not entitled to the scholarship.
The secretary cited several reasons for turning down Iqbal’s application. “Dow International Medical College, Karachi, is not among those approved medical colleges and universities for which scholarships are extended to poor and meritorious deserving students,” read the statement.
He also said that Iqbal paid US$10,000 for her admission, which indicated her financial stability.
Scholarships are paid in the local currency and are given to those students whose parents have an annual income of less than Rs250,000, he added.
Among other reasons, the secretary mentioned that the student needs to have been living in Pakistan continuously for more than 20 years. The scholarship ratio is fixed at 60:40 for rural and urban areas while 70 per cent of the scholarships are for graduate studies and the remaining for postgraduate studies.
Iqbal’s lawyer requested for time to go over these comments filed by the secretary. The bench adjourned the hearing till today.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2010.
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