PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, on the recommendation of Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar, has decided to significantly reduce the fees of Afghan students studying in public sector medical and dental colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and make their fees equal to those of Pakistani students.

It is pertinent to mention that this decision was taken in the light of a recent meeting between the KMU vice-chancellor Prof Dr Zia ul Haq and senior officials of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar. The KMU authorities had promised to take up the matter with the provincial government and now on the recommendation of the KMU, the provincial government has ordered KMU to charge an annual fee of Rs50,000 to Afghan students instead of Rs800,000.

According to the details, during the current session, an annual fee of Rs800,000 per annum was fixed for Afghan students but due to the efforts of KMU authorities, this issue has been resolved at the level of the provincial government, and now the provincial government has decided to collect Rs50,000 instead of Rs800,000 per annum from Afghan students. The Afghan students and their parents have extended special thanks to the provincial government and KMU for this decision.

Meanwhile, vice-chancellor KMU Prof Dr Zia ul Haq appreciated the decision of the Department of Health to make a revolutionary reduction in the fees of Afghan students and hoped that on one side this decision would provide opportunities for Afghan students to continue their education and on another hand, this historic decision will give a new impetus to Pak-Afghan relations.

He said that at present thousands of Afghan students are studying in various Pakistani educational institutions which is a testament to Pak-Afghan friendship. He said that the recent decision to reduce the fees of medical and dental colleges was in addition to the concessions under which thousands of Afghan students were availing huge scholarships worth millions of rupees in the form of the Allama Iqbal Scholarship by the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.

Prof Dr Zia ul Haq said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its bilateral relations with the Afghan people and we want to open a KMU sub-campus in Kabul in the near future with the cooperation of HEC and the federal government. Necessary paperwork is underway and in this regard, he will soon visit Kabul where he will discuss with the concerned authorities the implementation of the proposed campus project.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022