According to an official, the members of the committee at their 19th meeting held at the HEC secretariat under the chairmanship of HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi expressed the hope that this would help in promoting inter-provincial harmony and removing regional disparities.
As many as 650 scholarships were provisionally awarded in light of a decision of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on July 29 this year, which agreed to HEC`s proposal to award local scholarships on quota basis after the 18th constitutional amendment.
The programme for indigenous scholarships was introduced in 2003. “It used to be on merit basis and all the candidates who qualified used to be either from Punjab or Sindh. Students from other provinces were left out and these objections had been raised before the HEC.
This recent move would guarantee scholarships to students from all provinces on the quota basis,” said the official who attributed the delay to bureaucratic red tape.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the four provincial governments, Planning Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology besides HEC officials.
The participants were informed that the selection for the batch seven of the scheme was prolonged due to decision at the government level.
The members were also informed that being a federal government organisation, HEC would ensure implementation of the quota policy in award of indigenous and foreign scholarships in future as well.