Financial aid: Scholarship recipients honoured at FCC

PEEF to give away 100,000 scholarships in two years

LAHORE: A ceremony was held at the Forman Christian College University (FCC) on Wednesday to honour the recipients of the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) scholarship.

Students, teachers and PEEF officials participated in the event in which certificates were distributed among the recipients of the scholarship.

PEEF Scholarships Senior Manager Naveed Akbar Cheema said that the PEEF had achieved the milestone of distributing 100,000 scholarships. “It has distributed Rs5.6 billion among students. The government will provide 100,000 more scholarships in two years,” he said.

He said that the PEEF wanted to conduct similar conventions at the district-level. “The purpose of the conventions is to present the PEEF scholars as role models for the society and to provide a platform for future scholars to learn from them,” he said.

He said that the PEEF had started with an endowment fund of Rs1 billion which had grown to Rs14 billion. “Stipends for FCC undergraduate students have increased from Rs36,000 to Rs75,000. The PEEF is also awarding scholarships for postgraduate students. The initiative allows talented students lacking financial resources to get higher education,” he said.

Cheema said that the PEEF wanted to extend the range and number of scholarships. “It will only be possible with the help of educational institutions. The PEEF wants to provide master’s level scholarships as well,” he said.

He asked the university to provide details about its former students who had received the scholarship so that the PEEF could invite them to the scholars’ conventions.

FCC Vice Rector Dr Joseph Jones said that financial aid for needy students was essential for helping the spread of education. “Ignorance is far more costly than education,” he said.

He appreciated the role of the PEEF for the development of education in the country. He congratulated the students on being awarded the scholarships and urged them to work for the welfare of the country.

At the end of the ceremony, Dr Jones presented a shield to Cheema and souvenirs to other PEEF officials including Monitoring Manager Zahid Hussain, Verification and Disbursement Manager Rana Nasir Subhani and Verification and Disbursement Officer Hafiz Muhammad Usman Ali.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2015.