PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday distributed scholarship cheques worth Rs64 million to 347 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in various universities.

During the scholarship distribution ceremony organised by the KP Education Foundation at the Chief Minister’s House here, Mr Afridi also announced an additional allocation of Rs300 million for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Foundation, according to an official statement.

Of the amount, Rs200 million will be designated for settled districts and the rest for merged tribal districts.

The chief minister said that the provincial government was committed to providing equitable and enhanced educational opportunities to students from middle-income and underprivileged families.

Says market-relevant academic subjects being introduced to enable students to compete locally, internationally

He said no talented student should be forced to discontinue their education due to financial constraints.

“The students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are capable and hardworking. They only need opportunities and adequate facilities. Our youth are the future of Pakistan. Tomorrow, they will lead the province and the nation,” he said.

Mr Afridi announced that the provincial government was introducing market-relevant academic subjects to ensure that students are equipped to compete at national and international levels.

“Our goal is to prepare graduates who would not only secure employment immediately after completing their education but would also become job providers,” he said.

The chief minister also revealed that an internship programme was being launched to prevent skilled young people from remaining unemployed.

He said that all government policies were aimed at public welfare.“We will ensure good governance and demonstrate meaningful results,” he said.

KP Education Foundation Managing Director Zariful Maani informed participants that a total of 347 scholarships were being awarded this year under the Chief Minister’s Education Endowment Fund and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Foundation.

He said the second major initiative of the foundation was the introduction of a fully digitized scholarship regime to ensure transparency.”Now, a proper mechanism has been devised for the award of scholarships and human involvement has been almost excluded from the process,” he said.

Mr Maani said that just a few days ago, new scholarships were advertised and some 14,000 students had applied for it with the deadline still days away.

He said the registration would hopefully reach 30,000 by the deadline.

“The slots we have for the scholarships are just 227. I will request the chief minister, who is also chairman of the foundation’s board of governors, to enhance the slots to at least 500,” he said.

He said the foundation had introduced a fully automated, transparent digital scholarship system which ensures merit, transparency and gender parity.

The MD said the programme had been extended to 49 universities across the country.

He said the digital portal for the scholarship programme provided a digital quantification system eliminating human intervention, while ISO certification for the scholarships portal would be acquired soon.

According to KPEF documents, during 2024-25, some 13,165 students made registrations on the KPEF scholarships portal, of which 3,669 applications were received and 227 students were awarded the scholarship purely on the basis of merit and need. Due to limited funds, only six percent of the total applicants were given the scholarship.

During 2024-25, KPEF applicants of emerging sciences, including artificial intelligence, cyber security, data sciences, allied health sciences, fin-tech and software engineering, secured the maximum number of scholarships i.e. 37 per cent of the total awards. Students of General Science got 16.7 per cent, Political Science, English and Economics 16 per cent, Biological Sciences 15.2 per cent, Engineering and Agricultural Sciences three percent each, and other fields of BS and MS degree programs got 16 per cent.

In KPEF scholarships, priority is given to orphans, minorities, transgender students and persons with disabilities, while BISP-registered students receive special consideration and Hafiz-i-Quran applicants are given additional weightage.

Mr Maani said the KPEF had introduced dashboard-based university coordination and auto-ranking to ensure fair, unbiased evaluation of candidates.

He said the institutional interviews were fully integrated into the digital system, with a track-and-trace system to ensure quick verification and payment monitoring, while scholarship renewal was subject to academic progress and attendance.

“For swift and transparent disbursement of funds, a scholarship card for direct student payments will be introduced soon so that the students could receive payments without delay,” he said.

The MD said that the major achievement of the foundation was the establishment of its own building on its plot which had been lying unutilised for the past 22 years.

He said the foundation had been functioning in a rented building and they were compelled to pay Rs0.5 million rent and around Rs0.2 million as utility bills each month.

“Our foundation’s own building was set up within the shortest possible span of just two months after the approval of the board of governors in an extremely low-cost prefabricated structure with a fully solarised electricity system. We have already shifted the foundation to the new building and got rid of the heavy rent and utility bills,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2025