US providing scholarships to support students affected by floods in Pakistan

Thanks to US scholarships, hundreds of Pakistani students who were impacted by the devastating floods of 2022 can now continue their study.

The 500 new scholarships that U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome announced on March 7 are an expansion of the country’s long-standing assistance to Pakistan’s educational institutions and university students who will be impacted by the devastating floods of 2022.

According to Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal, “Pakistan has suffered from catastrophic floods where millions of people lost their homes and livelihoods.” “We appreciate U.S. assistance for kids impacted by the disaster.”

In Pakistan in 2022, the monsoon season’s torrential rains led to hundreds of thousands of evictions due to flooding and landslides. Since August 2022, the U.S. government has committed more than $200 million in aid for Pakistan’s flood recovery.

The money covered urgent need like food, water, nutrition, and shelter support. Additionally, it will aid Pakistan in repairing damaged infrastructure and funding projects for clean energy, disease prevention, and economic development.

According to Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, the chairman of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission, the new scholarships for university students are a continuation of continuous U.S. assistance for Pakistan’s educational system and economic development.

The U.S. Agency for International Development reports that during the previous nine years, the U.S. government has given out more than 19,000 scholarships to help Pakistani students pay for their higher education.

This includes 6,000 scholarships given to financially underprivileged students through the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program in collaboration with Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission.

“These scholarships have not only helped many deserving students attend university, pulling themselves and their families out of poverty, but they have also helped Pakistan acquire essential skill and knowledge sets to fuel the economy,” Ahmed said.

Together with building or renovating more than 1,600 schools, the countries’ educational partnership has trained more than 46,000 teachers and school administrators in Pakistan since 2013.

Schools built with American assistance served as shelters during the 2022 floods in hard-hit areas, notably Pakistan’s Sindh province.