CM calls for helping deserving students in need of finances

As our educational institutions play a pivotal role in our lives, we must pay back to our alma mater in order to support their deserving students.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said this at a local hotel on Friday while speaking at a ceremony organised by the NED University of Engineering and Technology to award the Ma’jee Scholarship to deserving students of the varsity.

“My government is working hard to reach each and every brilliant student so that their education may not remain incomplete for want of money,” the CM said. The programme was attended by NED Vice Chancellor Dr Sarosh Lodi, NEDIAN Association office-bearers, students and their parents.

Shah recalled his youth days when he had got admission to the NED University. “Except a few of my college classmates, I had no friends at the university but then made a lot of friends who have become my brothers and family members,” he said.

He informed the ceremony that he had won two scholarships for his double masters in the United States. “I have repaid both the scholarships so that another deserving student can avail them,” he said.

The CM remarked that he was pleased to launch the Ma’ Jee scholarships established in 2022. He said people would be wondering why the scholarship programme had been named ‘Ma’jee’, and himself clarified that through the programmes, the NED University and its alumni aimed at realising the dreams of mothers who were not able to afford education for their children at the prestigious NED university.

The endowment fund meant for scholarships was not merely for financial support for deserving students, Shah remarked. He said the fund was a symbol and celebration of the bond between mothers, their children and the institution, without which Pakistan would not be what it was today.

He said the compassionate and dotted hearts of mothers right from the birth of their children dreamt of brilliant careers for them, but with the passage of time, their dreams started to fade in the midst of challenges of resources and cost of education. With the establishment of the scholarship programme, the NED, NEDIANs and donors have not only revived the dreams of mothers but also strengthened their commitment to educating their children at the NED Univeristy, he added.

The CM congratulated the varsity administration, its alumni and donors for taking a commendable initiative to establish a fund with Rs70 million seed money for scholarships.

He said that the NED University had distributed scholarships to 105 deserving students at Rs100,000 per year from the fund. He added that he had been told that the custodians of the fund had planned to raise the fund to Rs500 million to ensure scholarships to over 750 deserving students every year.