TAXILA: About 180 students of various departments of the Attock campus of Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) have been deprived of financial assistance, which was announced by the government two years ago.

A sum of Rs58 million was approved in September 2019 by the federal government as financial assistance to be disbursed equally among the 180 students belonging to remote areas through the initiative of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam.

“The case of financial assistance to the students of various faculties was initiated by Malik Amin Aslam on the request of the students of Comsats’ Attock campus, but we have been denied the same for the last two years,” said a student Jamil Ahmed.

Iqra Bibi, another student, said they were happy on the announcement that they would be provided financial assistance to cover their academic expenses, but this proved to be eyewash. She said the students from remote areas had been facing problems in paying their tuition fee and allied charges of the university.

The students urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice of the matter.

When contacted, an official of the Comsats University, Attock campus, said on condition of anonymity that the main aim of the grant of this financial assistance was to facilitate the students belonging to poor families who were unable to pay their semester fee and other dues, but because of the bureaucratic red tape the students could not get this relief so far.

Another official said that the campus authorities had approached the quarters concerned repeatedly, but did not get any positive response.

When contacted for his comments on the issue, SAPM Amin Aslam said that he had taken up the matter with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and the funds would be released soon. However, he said that a cumbersome process was involved in the issuance of funds.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2021