PESHAWAR: Around 150 students from northwestern Pakistan have traveled to Afghanistan this month to participate in tests that could win them Afghan government scholarships to pursue higher education, particularly in medicine.
The Afghan government pays for 104 scholarships for Pakistanis every year, the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar said.
Many Pakistanis hope security will improve in Afghanistan after peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Kabul government conclude with a power sharing deal. Talks started in the Qatari capital of Doha on September 12.
“We believe the [Afghan] peace process will end with good news, so we are traveling to Kabul,” said Sana Gul, one of 150 young Pakistanis who left for Kabul last Saturday to attend scholarship tests. Eleven girls are part of the group. All of them want to study medicine.
“Medical education is very expensive in Pakistan, so we decided to pursue education in Afghanistan,” Gul, who is traveling with her sister, Spogami, said. Both have passed 12th-grade exams.
Gul’s father Farman Khan, a teacher in Mardan district, said it was the girls’ decision to go to Afghanistan.
“We have allowed our daughters to decide for themselves and we will stand by them,” he said, “I don’t think the region is any longer unsafe for those who seek education.”
Arshad Mehsud from South Waziristan also traveled to Afghanistan for the scholarship test. He told Arab News he wanted to study medicine.
“There is no medical doctor in my village Chagmalai,” he said, “so after completing this degree, I will come back to serve the people of Waziristan.”
