PEEF(The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund)

NEWSLETTER

April - June 2017 , Vol.07 Issue 2

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announces

grant of additional PKR 5 Billion for

PEEF

“The scholarship programme was initiated in 2008 and since then, 200,000 students have benefitted from The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF). It is the first scholarship programme of its kind in South Asia”; Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said while addressing the participants of PEEF awareness raising ceremony at University of Sargodha on 29th April 2017.The Chief Minister also announced annual grant of rupees five billion for the Endowment Fund of PEEF from 2017-18. He desired to increase the total number of beneficiaries of PEEF to 350,000 by the next year. He said that PEEF is the pioneer fund of Pakistan and the largest educational fund of its type in South Asia. To date, scholarships worth PKR 11.5 Billion have been distributed among deserving and talented students across the country.

News & Events Page 2 International Women’s Day 2017 Celebrations Page 4 PEEF Scholars’ Spoke Their Minds Page 5

Training Cohorts at YDC & TV Interviews of PEEF Scholars Page 6 PEEF’s Annual Retreat 2017 Page 7 Success Story Page 8

Contents

Meeting of the Board of Directors

Meeting for Shahbaz Sharif Merit Scholarships (SSMS)

A meeting regarding Shahbaz Sharif Merit Scholarships (SSMS) Program for PhD Studies in Foreign

Universities was held on 11th April 2017. Vice Chairman PEEF, Dr. Amjad Saqib presided over the meeting. During the meeting CEO PEEF briefed the participants regarding the terms and conditions of SSMS for 2017 intake. Progress of SSMS program 2016 was also discussed and appreciated by the participants of the meeting.

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PEEF’s Board of Directors gathered during 23rd BoD meeting held on 31st March 2017. The Vice Chairman PEEF, Dr. Amjad Saqib presided over the meeting. Dr. Kamran Shams, CEO PEEF briefed meeting agenda

to the participants. According to the agenda, Internal Audit report and half yearly accounts were discussed and approved. The Board of Directors also overviewed the Audit Report issued by Auditor General of Pakistan and approved with recommendations.

BoD also approved the partnership with NTS to award scholarships of Intermediate and Graduation levels to the students of Punjab. It was advised that the allocation of Masters’ level scholarship quota for Azad Jammu and Kashmir should be presented to Chief Minister Punjab/Chairman PEEF in the next board meeting.

Department for International Development (DFID) team visited PEEF Office. Dr. Kamran Shams, CEO PEEF briefed the team regarding overall performance of the PEEF-DFID Scholarship program. DFID’s

team expressed their satisfaction on the effective implementation of the program. After the meeting, DFID team also met the beneficiaries of the PEEF-DFID scholarship program.

PEEF-DFID Scholarship Prgram Review Meeting

The News Education Expo’17

The Jang Media Group organized ‘The News Education Expo’17’ all over Pakistan. PEEF

participated and set up a stall in Lahore on 20th, 21st May and Multan on 23rd May. Vice-Chancellor, Information Technology University (ITU)/Chairman, Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), Dr. Umar Saif, inaugurated the expo in Lahore. PEEF displayed its awareness stall to showcase scholarship opportunities and achievements. Besides providing information related to scholarship levels and eligibility criteria, PEEF team also informed about Shahbaz Sharif Merit Scholarship program for PhD in world’s top ranked universities. Students showed their interest in getting the information about the scholarship opportunities.The event attracted a large number of

visitors, particularly prospective students and their families.

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International Women’s Day 2017 Celebrations

To acknowledge women’s role and their rights, International Women’s Day was observed on 8th March 2017 by Women Development Department, Government

of the Punjab at Aiwan-E-Iqbal Lahore. Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif was the Chief Guest. While talking to the audience, he said, “No nation can rise to the heights of glory unless their women stand side by side with their men”. He also lauded that revolutionary steps are being taken for women’s empowerment. PEEF, being one of the most noteworthy one, is working with the endowment fund of PKR 17 Billion. He proudly announced that hundreds and thousands of scholarships were awarded to female students. Besides this, 33,000 additional scholarships are given to talented and deserving girls of South Punjab.The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) set up awareness stall at Aiwan-E-Iqbal to showcase its performance.

“No nation can rise to the heights of glory unless their women stand side by side with their men” Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif

PEEF’s scholars represented the women on TV Talk Shows

Female PEEF Scholars participated in a Live morning show ‘Jaago Lahore’ on ‘Lahore News HD’ and also

presented themselves in the evening segment* of Live Women’s Day Special Transmission telecast on ‘7 News’. All these scholars narrated their success stories and highlighted the role of PEEF in their lives.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3LE2fpRnsQ&t=392s

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PEEF Scholars’ Spoke Their Minds at The Event

PEEF scholars’ paid rich tribute to educational initiatives of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a function held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, and said that due to these initiatives, children belonging to poor families

were also getting higher education opportunities.

Zulaikha Malik, a PEEF scholar studying at FC College Lahore, while addressing, said that she belonged to a poor family of Qila Gujar Singh and opened her eyes as an orphan. She said that she saw her mother facing a lot of challenges and the only way to break the shackles of poverty was to get education. She added that her dream of higher education was being materialized through the Educational Endowment Fund of the Punjab government. She was awarded with PEEF scholarship and now doing MPhil at a prestigious educational institution - FC College Lahore . PEEF scholar Muhammad Haseeb of Kasur, studying at LUMS, while speaking on this occasion said that a common child like him is studying in an institution like LUMS is due to the financial support of PEEF, and like him, a large number of students are studying in local and foreign educational institutions. This would not have been possible without the vision of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

“Punjab Government is committed to provide best education facilities”: Chief Minister,Punjab

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“Excellent educational programmes are proof of the Chief Minister’s deep affiliation with the youth.” Zulaikha Malik, PEEF Scholar

Training Cohorts at YDC

The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) organized Scholars Development Workshops for PEEF Scholars of Balochistan at Youth Development Centre (YDC), Murree. These training cohorts took place

during 7-11 March and 24-27 March 2017. The objectives of these sessions were to impart knowledge and skills to scholars especially to enhance their leadership, communication and presentation skills.

•YDC is a marvelous initiative by Punjab government. (Shahzad Hameed, Quetta)

•Resource persons delivered their lectures skillfully. (Ismail Dummer, Harnai)

•I learnt a lot, which is beneficial for my professional life. (Mir Iqbal Baloch, Panjgur)

TV Interviews of PEEF Scholars for PSL 2017 Final

International Cricket revived in Pakistan on 5th March 2017, when the final match of Pakistan Super League (PSL)

was played at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore. This was a historic moment for image building of Pakistan. Government of the Punjab provided an opportunity to 30 PEEF scholars to go and watch the match at VIP enclosure. TV channels ‘AbbTakk’ and ‘Dawn News’ took short interviews of the PEEF scholars in which they thanked CM Punjab, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for providing them the opportunity to watch the PSL 2017 Final. These channels included interviews in their news package* that were telecast in different slots of the news bulletins.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uinpus5RSU8

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Participants’ Comments:

Owing to create an environment of the integrated team, The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) organized one-day training cum retreat trip for all PEEF staff on 18th March 2017, at ‘Green Fields Country

Club’. Different indoor and outdoor activities, especially cricket match and pool handball, were planned for the staff members for ensuring collectiveness and improving their efficiency across the board in the PEEF team.Dr. Shahid A. Zia delivered a comprehensive lecture on “Team Building and Leadership Development”. Participants fully grabbed the role of leadership in team building within the organization. The training session concluded with Q & A session. Apart from this, the staff members also enjoyed boating, playing snooker, swimming, car rides and captured glorious moments of the retreat in their snapshots. The day ended with unforgettable memories of joy, happiness, and unity.

Pictorial Highlights of Annual Retreat

PEEF’s Annual Retreat 2017

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Success Story ARSLAN ALI(MBA Banking & Finance; GCU, Faisalabad)

I am Arslan Ali and I belong to tehsil Samundari, district Faisalabad. Life was going smoothly

and happily but when I was doing my graduation my father died with a sudden heart attack. This saddest incident deteriorated my family. After my father’s death, being the only male in family financial responsibility of my family shifted on my shoulders. Though we received pension of my father, it was difficult for us to meet our day-to-day expenses.I was good in studies and it was my parents’ dream that I may complete my higher studies and work in a reputable organization, but financial constraints made me worried to continue my studies. Owing to cope such situation, during my BCom I started working as a cashier in a departmental store in evening and continuing my studies too. I scored good marks in BCom and got admission in MBA Banking and Finance in Government College University (GCU), Faisalabad. I was happy but on the other hand worried about meeting University expenses. I saw an advertisement about PEEF Scholarships program and the criteria to apply. I immediately applied for the scholarship. It was a great sigh of relief for me and my family and I felt immense pride when I received a letter from PEEF which clearly informed the pleasant news that I was selected for PEEF scholarship. This scholarship boosted my courage and motivated me, so that I continued my MBA with zest and zeal.“If I was not selected for PEEF Scholarship, I could never ever imagined to continue my studies”; highlighted Arslan. Now, fulfilling my family’s dream, I am working in Allied Bank as an Officer

(MG-11). It is my wish to work with full enthusiasm and explore variety of things in banking field, which are beneficial for my personal growth and country’s economy.My whole family prays for the success of Shahbaz Sharif and the Government of Punjab that under whose guidance merit friendly departments like PEEF is working to support deserving and talented students through scholarships, without any discrimination.

“If I was not selected for PEEF Scholarship, I could never ever imagined to continue my studies”; highlighted Arslan.