Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has announced 6 schemes for the welfare of youth in Pakistan that include several student loan schemes and laptop distribution programs. Much awaited schemes were made public in his address on TV and Radio on Saturday allocating Rs. 20 Billion to be spent this year as a part of his commitment to support the educated youth of the country. Following is the brief of announced schemes.
- First in the schemes is micro interest free loan under which Rs. 3.5 Billion has been allocated to be distributed among 250,000 disadvantaged students.
- Small Business Loan scheme has been designed for educated men and women for securing Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 2,000,000 loan on subsidized interest rate of 8%. Loans will be awarded for starting small businesses. Loan will be available from various bank but initially National Bank of Pakistan and First Woman Bank will initiate the process of distributing Rs. 5 Billion under this scheme.
- Internship Program will give an opportunity to 50,000 students having completed 16 years of education from recognized universities to get 6 months training for securing jobs later in their career. Apart from training, students will be given Rs. 10,000 stipend per month. Rs. 4 Billion have been earmarked for this scheme.
- A similar scheme has been announced for the students (boys and girls) who have cleared 8th grade. Under this Skill Development scheme, technical training will be provided to the students for six months for Rs. 800 million. A scholarship of Rs. 5,000 would also be given to each student.
- Fifth in the list is Sponsoring Tuition Fee in less developed areas of Pakistan such as FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Baluchistan where 30,000 bright students of M.A, M.Sc and Doctorate level will be supported in their educational fee up to Rs. 40,000 per student against a total allocation of Rs. 1.2 Billion for this scheme.
- Last but not the least is the famous Laptop Scheme that Shahbaz Sharif started in Punjab in his previous tenure. For Rs. 4 Billion this year, 100,000 laptops will be distributed by Federal Government among the bright students in all the provinces.
Prime Minister further announced that details of all the above schemes will be published on http://www.pmo.gov.pk where he asked people to send suggestions about the execution of these schemes.
