ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Youth Affairs Shaza Fatima Khawaja has said that the work on Prime Minister Laptop Scheme is in progress, under which free laptops will be distributed among 100,000 youth of government universities and colleges soon.

Under the scheme, high quality laptops will be provided to the youth purely on merit, she said while talking to APP on Monday.

“These laptops will be provided to all PhD and post graduate students while the top performers in undergraduate programs will also be included in the scheme” she informed.

She said that the quota for the students of Balochistan has been doubled in the laptop scheme, while the quota has also been allocated for the disabled students, adding, 50 percent quota has been allocated for women in scheme.

As many as 100,000 youth, she said, will be trained in skills and information technology through Prime Minister Skilled Programme, she remarked.

She said that the Prime Minister Youth Program was started by the Pakistan Muslim League (N) government in 2013, which included 6 steps to empower the youth.

She rejected the impression of closing the Prime Minister Youth Loan Scheme terming it as wrong, and added, the restructuring of this program has been done under which the loan limit has been revised.

“Now the youth will be provided interest-free loans up to Rs 500,000, while loans from Rs 500,000 to 7500,000 will be provided on easy terms” she told APP.

She said that every year 20 lakh graduates come to the market after completing their education, and underlined the dire need to provide skills education to these youth as per market needs.

She also informed that the work on forming the National Youth Employment Policy under the Prime Minister’s Youth Program is going on. She said that the former government had closed the National Internship Program.