LAHORE, Jan 17: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said 5,000 talented students will be given scholarships from the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) from March this year and 100 of them will be enrolled in foreign universities.

Speaking at the launch of the fund at Alhamra Art Centre on Saturday, Sharif said the fund had been instituted with a seed money of Rs2 billion to help talented and resource-constrained students continue their education.

Another Rs2 billion would be added to it next year. The chief minister said the fund would provide education opportunities to the children of the poor cultivators and labourers who could not otherwise pursue their studies.

He directed the fund to give scholarships to 5,000 students instead of 2,000 next year. He said talented students of backward areas would be enrolled in Aitchison College and other leading educational institutions where only the children of the elite were studying.

He said position holders would be sent to prestigious universities of Europe for studies. He said 100 male and 100 female students from Punjab would be enrolled in Malaysian universities.

He said quota for students from backward areas of Punjab in the fund would be doubled and students studying in social security and other institutions would also have their share in the fund.

He said talented students from all four provinces as well as Azad Kashmir could benefit from the fund.

Sharif said the oppressive system of the country created such a situation that only a particular segment of the society had the right to all facilities.

Earlier, PEEF Vice-Chairman Dr Amjad Saqib said brilliant and deserving students of public schools and colleges would be given scholarships in the first phase. The scope would be extended to private schools later. Students would be given scholarships at their doorstep and no applications would be needed for the purpose.

He said 20 per cent quota had been allocated for orphans, special children and children of widows, minorities and grade 1 to 4 employees and five per cent quota had been reserved for the students of other provinces and Azad Kashmir. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mian Muzaffar Ali donated Rs1 million to the fund.