TIMERGARA: Pakistani students studying at a university in China have complained they are forced to take loans as they have not been paid the scholarships since their admissions in Sept 2019.

In a written complaint sent to this reporter from China, several students studying MS and PhD courses and wishing not to be named stated that they had been enrolled at the Shandong Normal University under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Scholarship Programme through the Frontier Education Foundation (FEF).

They said a total of 32 students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (18 in MS and 14 in PhD courses) were admitted to the varsity. However, they complained that despite passage of four months since they got admitted they had not been paid the scholarships.

They said though it was a fully-funded scholarship programme, each student had paid 1,500 Ren Min Bi (RMB), the Chinese currency, in the first week as visa and dormitory security fees. The students also complained they had not been provided with any medical insurance despite the fact that medical care in China was expensive.

The students said under the programme each student had to be paid 3,500 RMB in case of PhD, and 3,000 RMB in case of MS, but the FEF had decreased the scholarship amount to 3,000 RMB and 2,000 RMB, respectively, thus violating the MoU signed with the Chinese university. They said the students had to take loans from relatives and friends for meeting daily expenses.

They demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to take notice of the matter.

PRICE HIKE FLAYED: Jamaat-i-Islami, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government has gifted the people with unprecedented price hike and unemployment.

Talking to mediapersons at Chakdara during his visit to the district the other day, he claimed that 200 per cent increase in gas tariff, 18 per cent in pulses, 55 per cent in wheat flour and 50 per cent in ghee had been recorded during the year 2019. The JI leader said hundreds of youth had become jobless, forcing them to go abroad for seeking jobs.

He insisted that policies were formulated on the dictation of IMF and World Bank. He said the government had lost people’s trust.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2020