ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has invited applications from students having ambulatory disabilities to receive electric wheelchairs under the Prime Minister’s Electric Wheelchair Scheme for University Students.

Students enrolled in public sector universities and affiliated colleges during the autumn 2020-21 semester can submit their applications on the HEC website by Sept 15.

The scheme’s eligibility criteria covers students who have physical and permanent ambulatory disabilities to such a degree that they are unable to move from one place to another without a wheelchair.

Students unable to cross hurdles because of paralysis or loss of leg function, or students who have lost one or both legs, can avail themselves of the electric wheelchairs.

However, all the applicants must have a valid certificate of special person or ambulatory disability from the relevant government authorities.

Students must fill out the online application form by the aforementioned due date, and then submit a print out of their application to the office of the respective vice chancellor, registrar or designated individual. Universities will forward shortlisted cases to the HEC for further action.

In the first phase of this scheme, 206 electric wheelchairs were distributed among students. Students who received wheelchairs in the first phase are not eligible to apply in the second phase.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2020