KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A group of 350 Afghan students, many of whom are female students, has traveled to Pakistan to pursue higher education in various academic fields, as reported by Pakistani media.
The students were welcomed at a reception hosted by Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Peshawar on Friday, according to Dawn newspaper.
Before starting their academic programs in the fall semester at various universities, the newly arrived students will first attend a specially designed preparatory course. An additional 50 PhD students and 100 master’s students from Afghanistan are expected to join them in September.
The report indicates that the scholarships provided are part of the Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarship Program, a Pakistani government initiative that has awarded a total of 4,500 scholarships to Afghan students thus far.
According to Pakistan’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, around 209 of the students, including 96 women accompanied by a mahram, arrived in Pakistan late last month.
This development comes at a time when Afghan women and girls are largely barred from formal education under Taliban rule, which prohibits schooling beyond sixth grade and access to university for women.
Despite calls for change from international and Islamic organizations, the Taliban has not lifted these restrictions, leaving millions of Afghan girls and women without access to education.
