ISLAMABAD – Only nine days were left in the closure date of the online portal for receiving fresh applications under the country’s largest Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program for the academic year 2020-21.
According to an official, the aspiring eligible students can submit their applications through an online portal till October 30.
All students with family income less than 45,000, studying in any year of an undergraduate program in any of the 119 public sector universities recognized by Higher education Commission (HEC) are eligible to apply.
The scholarship applications will have to mention the universities to which they are applying.
For the year 2019-20, scholarships worth Rs. 4.827 billion were awarded to 50,762 undergraduate students nationwide.
The four-year Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship initiative was formally launched by the Prime Minister Imran Khan on Nov 4, 2019.
Every year, 50,000 students from low-income families will be awarded scholarships for 4 to 5-year undergraduate degree programs.
The official informed that around 200,000 undergraduate scholarships will be awarded on need and merit basis over the four years span with the budget of Rs.24 billion and covering 100% of the tuition fee and a living stipend of 4,000 per month, The students from all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan were eligible to apply in this program.
As part of the program design, 50% of awardees are girls and 2% of awardees are differently abled.
The students’ academic performance will be monitored, and subject to satisfactory academic progress, scholarship recipients will continue to receive scholarship throughout their undergraduate programme, the official informed.
Higher Education Commission (HEC) is the lead implementing agency for the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship program. Last year, 132,192 undergraduate students had applied for scholarships through the online portal.
The scrutiny of applications received last year to award 50,762 scholarships was finalized early this year with all 119 public sector universities.
The project is being overseen by the Ehsaas Scholarships Steering Committee, co-chaired by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Chairman HEC, Dr. Tariq Banuri.
A joint monitoring and evaluation framework has been put in place to ensure transparency and equity, the official added.
