ACCORDING to the prime minister’s directives, the Higher Education Commission is going to distribute 100,000 laptops to the students of public-sector universities.

According to the eligibility criteria, students who are employed either in a public or private-sector organisation are not eligible for laptops under this scheme.

At graduate (MS/ME/MPhil) level, more than 90pc students are working. Professors and lecturers of public-sector colleges and universities, who applied through proper channels for studies MS/ME/MPhil or PhD in their relevant fields and are involved in research, curriculum development, especially in science and technologies, are not eligible for the said scheme.

Students, who are working in private organisations, are awarded laptops because their validated data was not verified by Nadra, owing to lack of coordination between these organisations.

I request the authorities concerned to modify the eligibility criteria for the scheme and award the laptop to all employed and unemployed students of public-sector universities.

M. Aamirul Haq

Secretary, Karachi Region,

Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014