ISLAMABAD, July 10: Students from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), who have been receiving the USAID-funded scholarships since 2008, here on Tuesday expressed the fear that the programme might be shelved because no new induction had been made for the last three years.
They said the 1,363 students availing of the scholarships would also be affected if the four-year programme was not extended.
However, the country director of the USAID training project said a decision about the future of the programme would be takenin September.
As many as 81 students were recognised at a ceremony held at a local hotel by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The students are completing their secondary, vocational or college-level education. The scholarships included a stipend, book allowance and reimbursement of admission and tuition fees. Each student gets almost Rs120,000 a year.
Mohammad Shakir, a 10th grade student at the Islamia Collegiate Peshawar, told Dawn that he had got the scholarship while in7th class.
“I hail from Khyber Agency and my family was financially unstable, so the scholarship helped me a lot. However, unfortunately, USAID has not inducted any student after 2008 which means that they are considering shelving the programme,” he said.
Abdul Rauf, a teacher at the Islamia Collegiate and the focal person for the programme, said there were 3,000 students in the institution and only eight out of them had been getting scholarships. “USAID should increase the number of scholarships and new students should also be inducted because due to war on terrorism, people are continuously migrating from Fata.”
He said there were two other scholarships, one given by the provincial government, but the USAID programme was much better compared to others.
Farmanullah, a student of Peshawar Model School, Charsadda branch, said there were 1,600 students in his school and only 18 out of them had been getting the US scholarship.
Jafar Shah, a teacher at the University Public School run by Peshawar University, said there were over 2,000 students in his school and only eight got the scholarship.
Adnan Akbar, another student from the University Public School, said the amount of the scholarship should be increased because most of the students had been affording the expenses of hostel and boarding.
Dr Marilyn Wyatt, the wife of the US ambassador, said without education human development was not possible and that is why the US government had been helping people of Fata in building a strong economy in the area. When she was asked about the future of the scholarship programme, she said the question should be asked from the USAID country manager.
Country Manager USAID Training Project Amy Hagen said a decision about the future of the programme would be taken in September. She said USAID had been running different projects in Pakistan to help people in the education sector. In higher education sector, so many projects have also been started and USAID is helping the HEC, she added.