Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday formally launched the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship programme.
Addressing the ceremony in Islamabad, the premier stated that a human society is one which looks after the interests of the under privileged.
“How can you identify a civilised society? The identity of a civilised society is not determined by how the rich live, it is determined by how the poor live. This is what draws a distinction between a humane society and one that is animalistic.”
Citing the example of Holy Prophet (PBUH), the premier said: “This is what happened in Madina. The state took responsibility for the poor, even though it was weak. They had no means, and no money but they had ehsaas.
“They understood the importance of empowering the poor,” Imran said.
Further, the state of Madina also understood the importance of education, he said. “When the Battle of Badr took place, according to the customs at the time, war prisoners would be released for ransom. But the state decided that the prisoners would be released if they taught at least 10 people how to read and write.
“You have to understand how forward thinking this approach was. This was the reason that for the next few centuries, the world’s top scientists were Muslims,” he said.
He maintained that the programme is an effort to extend educational facilities to all citizens which had been reserved for a select “elite”.
This is another step in our efforts to bring up those who have been left behind, the premier said, adding that when he was setting up NUML university, he observed that underprivileged students have a greater drive to achieve their goals.
“Our country has been blessed with a multitude of things, but our biggest asset is the country’s youth. However, we will only be able to reap the benefits of the youth by educating them, and uplifting them.”
Commenting on the initiatives taken by the PTI government, the premier said that the health cards initiative and the shelter homes set up by the government are some of the measures that have been taken to empower the people.
“We are also moving towards empowering women in villages. These programmes have been realised through a lot of hard work, and will operate regardless of political affiliation,” he said.
The scholarships will be given under the Ehsaas Graduate Programme which will provide a total of 200,000 scholarships to students in the country over four years.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad today, Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Sania Nishtar said it is the country’s biggest ever need based scholarship programme for the undergraduates, reported Radio Pakistan.
According to the PM’s aide, 50,000 scholarships will be given each year to the students of 119 public sector universities across the country including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. A total of 200,000 students will benefit from this programme, the publication added.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the programme is a historic shift in the government’s scholarship policy as in the past, scholarships used to be given only to those students who were pursuing higher studies.
Half of the programme’s beneficiaries are girls haling from low income groups while two per cent of the scholarships have been reserved for students with special needs.
