The budget for awarding prizes to Sindh board position holders has been slashed by the Sindh government due to paucity of funds. The provincial government has recently withdrawn the project that awarded prizes to position holders from matric and intermediate levels. Each year, almost 30,000 talents students received prizes by government educational boards, with an allocated budget of Rs1 billion. Under the Public Sector Development Programme, the funds were given to the provincial government out of which Rs100,000, Rs200,000 and Rs300,000 were to be awarded to the first, second and third position holders, respectively.
However, the decision of slashing the project was made after the inadequate release of funds by the federal government.
Moreover, students who secured A-1 grade at the matric and intermediate levels were previously promised to be awarded a cash prize of Rs25,000 each. According to Universities and Boards Secretary Riazuddin Ahmed, the provincial government was unable to issue the amount to the students because they lacked the needed funds to carry on with the practise.
He said, “A summary to issue prize money to the position holders has been sent to the chief minister of Sindh. However, it is uncertain whether they will release the amount and the procedure can take up to two months”.
The funds for the project were released last year, per the allocated budget for the FY 2017-18. Considering that, the Sindh government allocated a fixed amount, however, the funds were not released by the federal government. Students who aced their matriculation exams were now appearing in the first-year intermediate exams, while those who secured A-1 grade at the intermediate examination in 2018 were now enrolled in leading varsities.
There are no reviews yet.