ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The federal government has decided to pay tuition fee of all students from Balochistan, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan pursuing their master, MPhil and PhD courses in reputable universities of Pakistan.

In this regard, an amount of Rs500 million has been allocated in the current financial year.

Higher Education Commission (HEC) media coordinator Murtaza Noor said the government would pay academic, incidental or mandatory fees charged by educational institutions as one-off or on a per semester basis along with the tuition fee of the students.

“Fee disbursement would be ensured through a transparent and well-defined mechanism.

The students having valid domicile/local certificate of Balochistan, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan and enrolled on merit in the higher educational institutions in Balochistan, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan would be eligible for the scheme,” he said.

In addition, students belonging to Fata and enrolled in the higher educational institutions of KP would also be considered eligible.

The scheme would be introduced initially for five years, beginning in the fiscal year 2012-13, with the provision that those students who join the scheme in the last year (2016-17) would continue to be funded until they complete their academic programme.