Prime Minister’s National ICT Scholarship Programme has been offering scholarships
to students of marginalized areas for undergraduate level studies in the field of ICT across all provinces. The programme has been executed under the ambit of the Ministry of IT and Telecom, initially with the partial funding from the Government of Pakistan through public service development projects, since February 2008. The project was initially approved with a total budget of PR 2,414.84 for five years. The project concept was inherited from the Outreach Scholarship Programme of the Ministry. Later on, the project was continued for fiscal years 2012–2014 and approved through funds from Ignite National Technology Fund. About 4 761 fully funded four-year ICT-related undergraduate degree scholarships have been offered to the talented and deserving students of Pakistan under this programme in top universities of the country. More than 2 100 students have successfully graduated from top universities in various ICT-related disciplines. A total of 1,580 scholars were studying under the programme during fiscal year 2016/17. Of these, more than 1,000 successfully graduated during the 2016/17 fiscal year and are contributing to the economy or pursuing their higher qualification in national and international universities. A total of 22 students from the 2011 intake have graduated with distinction. This project is relevant to advancing SDG 4, which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

https://www.ignite.org.pk

• Pakistan

Having run the Program for 8 years and before going any further the need has been felt at the policy level to revamp the Program for its utmost efficacy. It is expected that through the redesign of the program, quality shall be further improved and shall have more value addition for the beneficiaries.

Prime Minister’s National ICT Scholarship Program has been a flagship HRD initiative of Ignite (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund). Program’s out-reach to talented students of undeserved areas has made it a true success story. This story reached its climax when the talented youth from marginalized areas outshined their urban peers in different areas of academic as well as extracurricular activities. Ignite (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund) is proud of all such heroes who have kept the grace of their respective native towns through their sheer hard work and dedication.