Abdul Rehman appeared in fifth grade scholarship exam conducted by Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in 2013 and was among the 300 students who came on merit.

But like other students he has not been paid a single penny as yet.

Same is the case with eighth grade students as almost 400 of them appeared in 2013 and 2014 examinations and qualified for the award but are still waiting for the scholarship.

The FDE is supposed to pay Rs200 per month to those who pass fifth class examination for three consecutive years and Rs300 to eight-graders for two years.

“I worked hard to pass the scholarship examination and my efforts bore fruit and I was declared successful in 2013,” Abdul Rehman told Dawn.

Abdur Rehman is now studying in seventh grade in a private school in Bhara Kahu.

Like him, a girl of Islamabad Model College for Girls F-6/2 passed scholarship examination of fifth class in 2014 but she too was denied the scholarship.

Requesting not to be named, she said that her class fellows often asked her if there was no reward then why did she work so hard for the scholarship.

“Delay in award of the scholarship has disappointed me,” she said.

The FDE has not been paying the scholarship for the last two years depriving as many as 1,000 shinning students of their right.

Sources in the FDE told Dawn that both years around 40,000 students appeared in the examination for classes fifth and eighth.

When contacted, Hassan Imran Baig, deputy director, Examination FDE, admitted the delay in award of scholarship, but said award lists were being sent to the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) for issuance of cheques.

He said a couple of month back they had moved the award list to the AGPR, but they raised some objections on it. “We will again move the list after removing the objections,” he said.

Dr Afzal Babur, President Private Schools Network, said the delay in award of scholarships would discourage hard working students. “The FDE should have begun the process within a few days after the announcement of the results,” he added. — Text by Kashif Abbasi

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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