Professional Education Foundation (PEF) with a view to enabling deserving and meritorious students, who fail to pursue their professional education due to financial constraints, launched scholarship named after iconic social worker, late Abdul Sattar Edhi.
Announcing this at a news conference on Wednesday, a member of PEF's board of directors, Dr Saad Khalid Niaz, said that the foundation has launched the scholarships in recognition of humanitarian services rendered by late Edhi. The scholarship will be initiated in 32 universities across Pakistan and details of scholarship's plan will be announced through advertisements, social media and the universities' websites, he added.
The PEF scholarships which will be given to a maximum number of needy and brilliant students will be financed through funds to be received from donors. Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Edhi, son of Abdul Sattar Edhi, expressed his gratitude to the PEF for introducing the scheme and hoped that scholarships to be awarded to the deserving and meritorious students will further accelerate the mission of his father who always wanted to make Pakistan a stronger nation by educating poor and needy children.
"We can take our country to greater height if we harness the potential of our youth," he said, adding that a simple way to achieve this target is to invest in education at all levels and let the future generation achieve its dreams. Replying to a query, Dr Niaz said that the foundation is, at present, providing funds to more than 1,200 students who are pursuing their education in medicine, engineering, agriculture, Information Technology, etc. As of last month, 282 students have graduated and are doing nice jobs in their respective fields, he added.
Elaborating, he said that another 100 students would be graduating this year from different educational institutions and the PEF's target is to increase the number of sponsorships from 1200 to 1700 students. PEF's chief executive officer, Shahid Hakim, said that the foundation would like to help the deserving, meritorious students who cannot pursue professional education due to financial constraints. "Our goal is to transform their lives by providing funds so that they may achieve their goals and bring a change in their lives," he added.