Waseela-e-Tasleem Programme being expanded
Four million primary school going children will benefit from Waseela-e-Tasleem Programme this next year
Pak Chronicle Report
Islamabad
Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Dr Sania Nishtar visited National University of Technology (NUTECH) today for policy consultation with the faculty and undergraduate students from NUTECH who were awarded Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship last year.
At the venue, Dr Nishtar interacted with students of NUTECH to gain insights on their educational aspirations and key problems being confronted by them.
Dr Hassan Jalil Shah, Advisor Human Resource Division Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Rao Muhammad Azhar, Project Director Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship HEC together with Rector NUTECH University were present on the occasion. Overall, 49 eligible students of NUTECH were awarded Ehsaas scholarships in the year 2019-20, stated a press release issued on Wednesday.
To make the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship programme more responsive, the voices of students are critical” said Dr Nishtar.
Adding further, she stated, “Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship has introduced a major policy change in educational landscape of Pakistan by emphasizing on the most critical segment, the undergraduate programme, which contributes the most to furthering income generation potential.
”The students were happy to sit with the SAPM and termed Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship as one of the best opportunities for students in need who cannot bear their academic expenses and that it not just covers 100% tuition fee but also a living stipend.
Undergraduate students with family income less than Rs45,000 a month, studying in first and second semesters in any of the 125 public sector universities are eligible to apply for academic year 2020-21.
Eligible students can apply through an online portal: https://ehsaas.hec.gov.pk/ that is currently open till November 30, 2020.
Earlier this morning, to oversee the new enrollments of deserving children in Waseela-e-Tasleem (WeT) programme, Dr Nishtar along with Ehsaas team visited Islamabad Model School for Girls and Mubeen Shah Model School for Boys at Jhang Syedan in the outskirts of Islamabad.
During the visit, she met with the teachers, parents and children. WeT, the education conditional cash transfer programme has been ongoing for the last eight years. The programme has undergone a massive reform with technology, now hardwired in its design, to checkmate collusion and pilferage.
Sharing details of recently introduced reforms, Dr Nishtar stated, “All institutional arrangements have been made to expand WeT, nationwide in all districts of Pakistan. Four million primary school going children will benefit from this next year. And, under the umbrella of Ehsaas, the stipend for girls has been increased to Rs2,000 per quarter whereas the stipend for boys has been increased to Rs1,500 per quarter.”
Later today, Ehsaas team working on the upcoming Tahafuz came to the table under the chair of Dr Nishtar to shape up the pilot roll out of the upcoming programme. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and Additional Secretary PASSD were also present. “Extensive one-year long work has been done on Ehsaas Tahafuz, Pakistan’s first shock-oriented precision safety net. This programme is aimed at protecting people from catastrophic health expenditures and is being pilot tested in one hospital, this quarter, following which it will be up-scaled in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020-21”, said Dr Nishtar, concluded the press release.
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