PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday directed the higher education department to finalise the proposed Insaf Taleem Card programme about fee waiver for college students in the province.

The Rs1 billion initiative will benefit 244,927 students enrolled in government colleges across the province, according to an official statement issued here.

The chief minister issued those directions during a meeting, which was attended by finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, higher education minister Kamran Bangash, special assistant to the chief minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, higher education and information secretaries, and other relevant officials.

Mr Mahmood said that investment in human capital was of paramount importance and one of the pivotal agendas of his government.

Insaf Taleem Card programme likely to benefit 0.245m students

He said that his government was striving to promote higher education in the province.

“We [provincial government] have taken sincere steps for the promotion of quality education in the province since [our] day one and they have started yielding positive results,” he said.

The chief minister said that public trust in the government’s educational institutions had been restored and a number of measures had been taken to ensure that the educational institutions in the province are fully functional.

He said that 76 government colleges had been upgraded and 37 established by his government in order to ensure the people’s uniform access to educational opportunities.

Mr Mahmood said that the establishment of the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology was another milestone achieved by the provincial government in its endeavours for the promotion of education in the sector of applied sciences in line with contemporary needs.

He also said that the establishment of university campuses in various districts of the province had also ensured the uniform access of students to higher education.

The chief minister said that during the ongoing fiscal year, Rs8 billion had been allocated in the budget for various development projects in the higher education sector, including renovation and rehabilitation work in colleges, establishment of colleges, strengthening of universities, promotion of commerce and management education, provision of scholarships and stipends, establishment of universities, and strengthening of public libraries.

He added that those schemes had been included keeping in view the needs of different regions and they completion would effectively address majority of the issues faced by the local students and their parents.

Mr Mahmood directed the higher education department to focus on the promotion of quality education in the province saying it will enable future generations to compete not only nationally but also internationally.

“Education for the sake of degrees is not only useless but is also a waste of precious resources,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2022