THE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated a huge budget for education. However, the bureaucracy, particularly of the higher education department, stands in the way. There are hundreds of examples of mismanagement and negligence on the part of the department concerned.

The ‘Faculty Development Support Programme’ scholarship, announced three years ago, is yet to see the light of day. Although the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency finalised the list of eligible scholars after scrutiny, the process is yet to be completed.

The bureaucracy involved in the system is setting a world record in red-tapism. This must have been the slowest process of any scholarship scheme in the country.

The main aim of any scholarship is to provide financial assistance to scholars so that their higher education is not stopped or affected because of financial constraints.

Like all other affected scholars of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, I reminded the focal person concerned about the delay in the process a number of times via emails. In return all I got was the usual response that the process would be completed ‘very soon.’

We have no forum to raise our voice against this frustrating delay because we have only one director sitting in Peshawar for the whole province.

I hope Mr Imran Khan and the provincial government would listen to us and invite us to hear our genuine concerns. Otherwise, allocating huge budget for education will bear no fruit.

M. Shakeelur Rehman

D.I. Khan

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play