Karachi: The government in Pakistan’s Sindh province has given scholarships worth Rs28.125 million to 2,875 students from religious minorities in the province to enable them to secure college and university-level education.
The financial assistance has been extended to deserving students under an annual programme of the Sindh government’s Minorities Affairs Department.
The scholarships are given on a need basis to assist students from low-income minority families. The monthly income of the father or guardian of the recipient of the scholarship shouldn’t exceed Rs35,000 in order for him/her to qualify for the programme. The financial assistance is offered to get education only at the government-run colleges and the public sector universities.
The recipients of the scholarships include 1,722 university students and 1,153 students from the colleges.
Sindh Minister for Minorities Affairs, Giyan Chand Essarani, distributed the scholarship cheques at a ceremony.
Essarani said on the occasion that he had been working hard to develop temples, churches, gurudwaras, and crematoriums to serve minorities as per the direction given by the leadership of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.
He said that a Non-Muslim Welfare Committee had been constituted in Sindh to help destitute families belonging to the minorities.
He told the audience at the ceremony that representatives of all the minorities had been included in the committee.
The Minorities Affairs Minister said the committee had adopted a transparent and meritorious mechanism to disburse the scholarships for deserving college and university students.
Essarani mentioned that his aim was to reach out to every deserving student belonging to the minorities.
He reiterated the resolve of the Sindh government to come to the immediate rescue of minorities whenever they face any injustice or unfair treatment.
The Sindh Minister disclosed on the occasion that he had put forth the proposal to double the scholarship grant in the upcoming provincial budget so that financial assistance could also be extended to the deserving school students belonging to the minorities.
