Pakistan’s Sindh province offers financial assistance to Palestinian students amid Gaza crisis

Students hold dummy bodies of victims during a rally in support of Palestinians, in Karachi on November 8, 2023. (AFP/File)

• Over 300 Palestinian students, including 50 in Sindh, are currently enrolled in Pakistani universities
• The decision to waive off tuition and provide scholarships was taken by the interim chief minister

ISLAMABAD: In light of the ongoing Gaza crisis, the government of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has directed all its public education institutions to exempt Palestinian students from tuition fees, waive hostel charges and provide stipend scholarships, a senior official confirmed on Thursday.
According to the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the country, over 300 of these students are currently enrolled in universities across Pakistan, including 50 in Sindh’s public education institutions.
It added that historically more than 50,000 Palestinian nationals had graduated from Pakistani institutions of learning. However, many of those who are currently pursuing their education in the country are gradually finding it difficult to cover their expenses following Israel’s intense bombardment of Gaza which has killed over 10,000 people in a little more than a month and totally destroyed the area.
“Caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh Justice (r) Maqbool Baqir has decided to exempt Palestinian students studying in the government-run education institutions of Sindh from tuition fee and hostel charges while directing the authorities to provide them scholarships in view of the crisis in Palestine,” Abdul Rasheed Channa, media consultant to the Sindh chief minister, told Arab News over the phone.
“A total of 50 Palestinian students are studying in the province, most of them in medical and engineering universities,” he added.
A notification sent by the provincial authorities to public education institution, which is available with Arab News, describes this as an urgent matter that needs to be accorded top priority.
Channa said the implementation of the directives had already started as different universities had informed the students about it.
A document circulated by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Jamshoro, Sindh, notified that its management had decided to waive off tuition fees and hostel charges and provide stipends to 13 Palestinian students.