PESHAWAR, April 16: The federal government will spend Rs1.94 billion in next five years to promote higher education in Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

“The Central Development Working Party has approved the mega scheme according to which more than 5,500 talented students from Fata and Balochistan will be selected on merit for higher studies in various disciplines,” an official in civil secretariat Fata said on Monday.

The official said that Rs eight million had been earmarked for Fata part of the scheme for the current year.

He said the government of Japan had given Rs150million for construction of school buildings in the Frontier Regions, including D.I. Khan, Bannu, Tank and North Waziristan Agency, adding that work on 21 school buildings had already been started. Construction of 44 other school buildings in Orakzai Agency, Kurram Agency, Kohat and Peshawar was in the pipeline for which Rs175 million had been pledged by Japan. The construction would be completed within three years, the official said.

Besides, the Central Development Working Party on directives of the president has approved another project according to which 200 students from Fata would be selected on merit basis and would be admitted to top colleges in Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, the official said.

Twenty students each from the agency and 10 from adjoining Frontier Regions would be selected under the Rs102 million President Scholarship Programme.—APP