IN 2019, the government had announced the Ehsas Undergraduate Scholarship, which has recently been renamed the Benazir Undergraduate Scholarship Project. I was selected for the scholarship in the first batch of 2019. Currently, I have received four cheques of Rs40,000 each, which made it a major financial support for me during the five-year degree programme. But I have been facing a few issues lately.

I am a student of the University Law College in Quetta. The college is affiliated with the University of Balochistan (UoB). The Higher Education Commission (HEC) transfers the stipend amount and tuition fee to the UoB, and it is the responsi- bility of the university to pay the awardee’s tuition fee to the relevant college.

As things stand currently, the HEC has transferred the amount to the university, but the next step of transfer, from the UoB to the college, has not taken place. The college wants the individuals to approach the university and get the matter resolved. In the meantime, all administrative matters related to such students have been put on the freeze. The students have requested both the college and the university to have the matter resolved, but neither seems to be interested.

In this game of tug-of-war between two institutions, the students are the ones suffering from mental anguish. The fee that needs to be deposited is more than Rs100,000, which the awardees belonging to underprivileged segment of society are unable to pay to the college.

The government as well as HEC higher-ups need to look into the matter and have the issue resolved as soon as possible since the examination result and clearance issues of all such students have been withheld by the college adminis- tration because of non-payment of dues.

Sabir Kareem
Quetta

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2024