Planning Minister Highlights Educational Initiatives For Balochistan’s Youth

Umer Jamshaid Published March 18, 2025 | 08:00 PM

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2025) Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal, while chairing a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Tuesday, highlighted the importance of ongoing educational projects being executed to empower the youth of Balochistan.

The minister also recalled that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had launched several crucial educational initiatives in previous the past to offer higher education opportunities for Balochistan's young population.

Ahsan Iqbal said it was vital to create awareness about these programs among the people of Balochistan, with the ultimate goal of countering the disruptive efforts of terrorist groups operating in the region.

The minister informed that that from 2013 to 2018, the PML-N government awarded 5,000 scholarships to Balochistan students to study at the country’s top universities.

While in the second phase, he said 5,000 more scholarships were offered in phase-II during the tenure of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government.

To ensure the continued success of these initiatives, he instructed the Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to devise a comprehensive and robust strategy for providing education and development opportunities to Balochistan’s youth.

He called for these efforts to be directed toward creating a more stable and prosperous Pakistan by empowering young people from the region.

Furthermore, the minister highlighted the need for youth engagement in both academic and extracurricular activities.

He also urged university Vice-Chancellors to promote inter-regional solidarity by offering diverse housing options in hostels, in order to prevent the formation of regional-based groups within universities.

Reaffirming the government’s commitment to the future of Balochistan’s youth, Ahsan Iqbal assured that every possible step would be taken to integrate them into the national mainstream through education and development projects.