The United States government on Tuesday announced 500 new scholarships for Pakistani university students from flood-affected districts to “assist them in completing their degrees”.
The calamitous Pakistan floods of 2022 were the tenth most expensive climate disaster to have buffeted a nation over the last decade.
The floods inflicted an estimated loss of $3 billion on the country, caused over 1,700 deaths and displaced eight million people.
In January, international donors met in Geneva and committed over $9bn to help Pakistan recover from the flood but the United Nations said a day ago that so far donors have fulfilled only 40 per cent of the pledges they made.
A press release issued from the US embassy in Islamabad said US Ambassador Donald Blome announced the scholarships at an event “celebrating the achievements of female scholars in honour of International Women’s Day” at the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
“The United States, through USAID, has supported scholarships for meritorious yet financially disadvantaged students to pursue higher education at top Pakistani universities,” the press release reads.
It added that in partnership with the HEC, the US government has awarded over 6,000 scholarships through the Merit and Needs Based Scholarship Programme.
“Sixty per cent of those scholarships have been awarded to women as part of the US government’s support for women’s higher education,” the press release stated.