On December 29, 2019, the Pakistan women delegation, led by former Special Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Ms. Tasnim Aslam, visiting Kabul to meet Afghan women leaders as part of CRSS’ Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II diplomacy initiative, also paid a visit to Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) -funded scholarships’ test center in Kabul.
Almost 16000 candidates had turned up to take the qualification exam. The delegates met with the candidates and inquired what subjects they are interested in studying at Pakistani universities. They also motivated them to work harder and follow their dreams.
Under the current scholarship scheme for this year, Pakistan has offered 1,000 Afghan students as part of the Allama Iqbal Scholarship Programme, where the grant has been given by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Pakistan ambassador to Kabul Zahid Nasrullah Khan had also earlier attended the ceremony for the scholarship programme.
The aim of the grant is to promote education in Afghanistan along with helping the children from poor backgrounds to get education. The students that have been selected will be able to pursue higher education in various universities all across Pakistan in different fields including medicine, engineering, agriculture, management, and computer science. Earlier in June 2019, around 3,000 scholarships were awarded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan to the Afghan students under a four-year program.
