The Punjab government started offering scholarships to the students from Balochistan, the least developed province of the country, to study in its educational institutions in 2012.

Since then the number of Baloch students has increased manifold in the educational institutions of Punjab and a great number of Baloch students hailing from the far-flung areas of the resource rich province are getting quality of education in the province, especially in its metropolis Lahore.

Before scholarships were announced, there were a handful number of Baloch students in Lahore but the number increased following the reserved seats in educational institutions.

The Punjab University has allocated a quota of 100 reserved seats in its 72 departments (for bachelors and masters’s degrees) for Baloch students on fully paid scholarships. As a result, there are over 300 students from Balochistan currently studying at the university.

Most of the Baloch students are not well off; therefore, it is difficult for them to take admission to universities on self-finance basis. But thanks to the scholarships, they are studying in prestigious institutions. In 2012, Punjab University vice chancellor Mujahid Kamran announced scholarships for students from Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) which attracted a lot of students from Balochistan.

Aslam Baloch, a PU alumni from Turbat, Balochistan, says: “I belong to a poor family and I had got admission to the PU on a self-finance basis. Later on, I requested the VC for scholarship who accepted my request and I was able to complete my masters’ degree from the university.”

Due to lack of quality of education and political situation in Balochistan, many students from the province have also come to Punjab, particularly Lahore, to getting quality education. Besides, many students who have studied in Balochistan have also moved to Lahore for the preparation of the competitive exams like Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). These students say that besides educational institutions, one can get acclimatised easily to the environment of the city. They also say that there are a great numbers of libraries in the city which they do not have in Balochistan.

Nizam Rahim Baloch, a student of the Government College University (GCU), Lahore, says: “After studying at Quetta’s Federal Government College, I made up my mind to go to Lahore for higher education. Despite not very good grades in graduation, I did not give up and appeared in the entrance test for the GCU. I got admission to MA Political Science.

“Two years back, when I came to Lahore, I had to interact with a variety of students belonging to different ethnicities, particularly Punjabis, which improved my language skills too, especially in spoken Urdu that was not very good because the Balochi accent.”

Nizam became the secretary general of the Baloch Council of the GCU where he facilitated students from Balochistan that resulted in an increase in the number of students from his province in different departments of the university.

Most of Baloch students found Punjabi students friendlier and the interaction increased the knowledge of the local students about their province.

“It is an undeniable fact that the people in Punjab in general and students in particular hardly know anything about Balochistan. In the past, they would only know about Quetta, and now, due to significance of Gwadar port, they have got some knowledge about the port city. However, the situation is constantly changing now due to their interaction with us. They are curious to know about Balochistan, its history and culture, which is a good development,” says Ghulam Jan Baloch, a student from Nushki district of Balochistan.

Shafi Muhammad Mengal, a student of the History Department of the Punjab University, thinks that the number of Baloch students should increase: “The number of Baloch students in Punjab University is quite less when compared with 32, 000 students of the Punjab University.”

Shafi wants quality educational institutions in Balochistan too.

“Though students from Balochistan think that Lahore is a city of opportunities, all the students from Balochistan cannot avail this opportunity. The government better establish educational institutions in Balochistan as well to provide quality education opportunities there so that the students might be get education in their home province.”

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016