From across the country, Students have welcomed the decision of the government of extending the last date for submitting applications under the Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program. The last date for the year 2020-21 till November 30.
The previous last date announced for the closing of applications was October 30 which was revised considering the COVID-19 fronted delays in the admission process at several public sector universities in the country. The decision of date extension was taken to facilitate a maximum number of fresh undergraduate students, who were financially challenged, to apply for this scholarship opportunity. According to the official source, as many as 30,000 applications have been received in the system so far.
Around 125 public sector universities recognized by Higher Education Commission are part of this initiative. The Ehsaas undergraduate Scholarships are targeted at students from low-income families (less than Rs. 45,000 a month) and marginalized regions to assist them in their undergraduate studies. Eligible students can apply through an online portal: https://ehsaas.hec.gov.pk/. However, scholarship recipients of other semesters who had secured Ehsaas scholarships in 2019-20 will continue receiving Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship throughout their undergraduate degree based on their satisfactory academic performance. For the year 2019-20, scholarships worth Rs. 4.827 billion were awarded to 50,762 undergraduate students nationwide. Under the program, every year, 50,000 students from low-income families will be awarded scholarships for 4 to 5-year undergraduate degree programs. Over four years, 200,000 undergraduate scholarships will be awarded on the need and merit basis. The geographical spread of the program spans across all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. The Ehsaas scholarship aid covers the entire tuition fee along with a monthly stipend. All four to five-year undergraduate programs are covered under Ehsaas. 50 percent of awardees are girls and 2 percent of awardees are differently-abled. The total budget over four years is Rs. 24 billion.