12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 11: The government is considering a proposal to announce separate scholarships for less developed areas or provinces under various schemes of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), official sources told Dawn.

The basic idea behind the proposal is to accommodate applicants from under-developed areas of the country so that they could equally benefit from the scholarship schemes, the sources said.

They said a PC-1 was already being prepared and would soon be submitted to planning commission. The sources said under the original project of the HEC's scholarship schemes approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), there was no provision for any regional quota, adding that the issue was discussed by the Ecnec in its meeting earlier this year, and the proposal for fixing regional quota was not accepted.

However, Ecnec was of the view that separate PhD scholarship schemes for less developed areas/provinces should be prepared and submitted for approval.

Under its various schemes, the HEC over the last few years had started a number of scholarship schemes, including indigenous PhD fellowship programme, PhD scholarship programme for faculty members, social sciences PhD scholarships, merit scholarship for PhD studies in science and technology, and graduate and undergraduate scholarships.

However, faculty members from the less developed areas of the country were of the view that separate scholarship schemes should be announced for them, as they were not getting enough share in scholarship programmes based on open merit.

Talking to Dawn, a senior faculty member of the Quaid-i-Azam University endorsed the idea of separate scholarship schemes for under-developed areas of the country.

"The move will help bring about a uniform effect as far as the awarding of scholarships is concerned", he added. The faculty member said at present, applicants from major urban centres of the country having better educational qualification were grabbing every thing which the HEC offers through its scholarships.