ISLAMABAD: In what could be dubbed a praise-worthy move, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is all set to open its regional office in the long-deprived South Waziristan Agency.
Speaking exclusively with Pakistan Today, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that the AIOU regional office would soon be opened in the war-weary South Waziristan agency to provide education to the deprived area.
He said that they are in touch with the concerned authorities in WANA to get a piece of land so as to build an office on it.
The VC said that the people of the region were deprived of their right to basic education so he decided to establish a regional office in WANA to help people of the area in getting an education.
“AIOU will provide free Matric education to the students of Baluchistan and Federally Administrated Tribal Area (FATA) from the next semester, spring 2018,” he vowed.
The AIOU officially notified provision of free Matric education to the students of Baluchistan and FATA on Wednesday and the formal decision to this effect was taken by the university’s executive council at its 106th meeting on the recommendation of their finance committee.
This is first-time in the history of AIOU that free education at secondary-level has been made available for marginalized or less developed areas of the country.
Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that the AIOU being a mega-university in the public sector fulfils its national responsibility; catering to the educational needs of less far-flung regions, setting aside its financial gains.
“Providing free education to Baluchistan and FATA’s students is meant to supplement the government’s efforts to upgrade educational facilities in the country and to bring a maximum number of the people in the educational net,” he said.
The university is already providing free education to neglected sections of the society that include disabled persons, prisoners, drop-out girls and the transgender group.
Now they are going to take care of economically stressed areas of the country, by making the matriculation free for the students of Baluchistan and FATA, in the first phase, the VC told Pakistan Today.
Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that they had already waived off tuition fee for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the tribal areas in wake of the counter-terrorism operation undertaken by the Pakistan army.
The university is also providing scholarships to deserving students to ensure that nobody is left without education because of financial constraints.