National Assembly Education Body Urges HEC To Strengthen Int'l, Local Scholarships Selection Criteria

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education, Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture urged the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to strengthen and revisit the selection criteria of international and local scholarships for Pakistani Students

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jan, 2022 ) :The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education, Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture urged the Higher education Commission (HEC) to strengthen and revisit the selection criteria of international and local scholarships for Pakistani Students.

The Committee expressed these views in its meeting held here on Thursday in the Committee Room of Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Mian Najeeb Ud Din Awaisi, MNA.

While briefing, the Director General (HRD), HEC apprised the Committee that there are 13 international scholarship programs and 07 local scholarship programs for both the undergraduate and post-graduate level offered by the HEC.

Under these international scholarship programs, 1040 scholarships were offered by the Government of Hungary to Pakistani Students to study in Hungarian Higher Education Institutions.

She also apprised that HEC offered 04 need based and 05 special initiatives scholarship programs for the students.

The need based scholarship program is funded by the annual recurring grant of HEC to the Public Sector Universities of Pakistan, whereas, over 30,000 scholarship have been awarded so far.

The Committee directed the HEC to revisit the selection criteria of international and local scholarships for Pakistani Students. The Committee also decided to refer this agenda to the Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee already appointed under the Convenership of Ms. Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, MNA.

Later, the Committee deferred "The NCS-Institute of Sciences Bill, 2021" (moved by Mr. James Iqbal, MNA) till its next meeting due to unavailability of the Mover.

The Director General, National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) briefed the Committee that the Commission is the apex body for Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET) in the country.

The NAVTTC is mandated to promote, facilitate, regulate, approve curricula and provide policy direction for country's entire TVET and skill development system in the country.

He apprised that 50,000 youth are being imparted High-TECH training across Pakistan. 14,949 trainees completed skill training in batch-01, whereas, 20,319 trainees completed skill training in batch-02 during the year 2020-21 across the country. He informed that about 2500 TVET Trainers are being trained technologically across Pakistan.

The Committee directed the NAVTTC to propose special budget for widows/drop-out girls and the outreach should be for the rural areas to empower them that their certificates can be beneficial.

Besides the Parliamentary Secretary, Federal Education and Professional Training Division Ms. Wajiha Qamar, the meeting was also attended by MNAs Ali Nawaz Awan, Sadaqat Ali Khan Abbasi, Ms. Javairia Zafar Aheer, Umer Aslam Khan, Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik, Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Ms. Andleeb Abbas, Ms. Ghazala Saifi, Asma Qadeer, Ms. Tashfeen Safdar, Ms. Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, Ch. Muhammad Hamid Hameed, Ms. Kiran Imran Dar, Ms. Mussarat Rafiq Mahesar, Dr. Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, and Asmatullah.

The senior officers from Federal Education & Professional Training Division, M/o Foreign Affairs, Higher Education Commission (HEC), International Islamic University, Islamabad, and NAVTTC were also present in the meeting.