ISLAMABAD: Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) will disburse around Rs8 million on annual scholarship schemes for middle and matriculation level students of public and private educational institutions of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
As many as 500 students of fifth and eighth classes of ICT will get scholarships on merit under the centralised system of examination, which would be conducted by FDE next year, an FDE official told media on Thursday.
FDE has announced December 11 and December 26 as last dates for the submission of scholarship application forms for classes five and eight respectively.
“The scholarship will be provided to students of Islamabad Model Colleges (IMCs) and private educational institutions of ICT” the FDE official added.
He further said that the scholarships would be awarded purely on merit on the basis of results in the centralised primary and middle-level examinations held under the FDE.
He informed that a total of 23,000 students from class 5 and 2,000 students from class 8 had appeared in the exams held under the directorate in 2016.
Around 300 students – 150 girls and 150 boys – from primary classes will receive Rs6000 each annually for a period of three years, while 200 students – 100 boys and 100 girls – from middle school will get Rs6000 each for a period of two years.
The official further said that special cash prizes of Rs50,000, Rs40,000 and Rs30,000 would also be awarded to the top three position holders respectively in these exams. A summary in this regard has been sent to the concerned ministry for approval, he said.
Currently, the students of public sector schools are given free textbooks and free education while free books are also being provided to private sector schools by Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA).
The official said that the introduction of centralised examinations created a sense of competition among teachers and students of different institutions and a noticeable change can be seen in the results of schools and model colleges.
“This healthy competition encourages teachers and students for extra toil to secure slots under the scheme,” he said and expressed hopes that in the coming years the standard of education would further improve.