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DAFI Scholarship Programme a great help for Afghan refugee students in Pakistan to continue studies

December 18, 2003

ISLAMABAD, The German funded DAFI Scholarship Programme has been a great help for Afghan refugee students in Pakistan to continue their studies. This was stated by the participants of a day long workshop for Afghan refugee students, receiving the German funded DAFI scholarships.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan organized the event on Thursday to review the problems faced by the Afghan refugee students studying in different professional institutions of Pakistan.

Mr. Rehmat ullah Mussa Ghazi, Minister Counsellor of the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan, Ms. Tahiana Andriamasomanana, Assistant Representative Programme UNHCR Islamabad, UNHCR delegates from Iran, Afghanistan and a large number of Afghan refugee students attended the workshop.

Speaking at the concluding session of the workshop Mr. Rehmatullah Mussa Ghazi said that during the long years of instability in Afghanistan, education was the worst hit sector. "Afghan refugee students are requested to take most available opportunities in Pakistan as today educated youth are most wanted in Afghanistan". He also added that Afghanistan needed its educated youth living outside to return to their homeland and serve the country.

"Afghan refugees living in Pakistan were lucky as they had access to education facilities which majority in Afghanistan lacked. The new government after taking charge of the affairs had put more emphasis on education", the Afghan Minister Counsellor said.

Ms. Tahiana Andriamasomanana said that UNHCR was trying to make the channel of communication between Afghan refugee students, receiving the DAFI scholarship in Pakistan and Iran, and Afghanistan functioning. She termed the workshop the first initiative to be followed by others in near future.

Mohammad Maqbool and Zahira Hafizullah, representatives of Afghan refugee students receiving the DAFI scholarships, presented the recommendations worked out during group discussions. The recommendations were aimed at solving the problems of Afghan refugee students in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We acknowledge that the financial assistance extended through UNHCR by the German government has been a great help to Afghan refugee students in Pakistan. With out this assistance, most of us could not have possibly continued our education. We take this opportunity to request UNHCR and the German government to continue this financial support", they said.

They recommended more simplified admission procedures as Afghan refugee students in Pakistan were facing difficulties while seeking admissions in different educational institutions.

Afghan student recommendations emphasized the formation of a mechanism for information sharing among UNHCR and Afghan students to keep them updated on educational and developmental issues happening inside Afghanistan.

Nasir Sahibzada, Education Officer UNHCR Islamabad, said that UNHCR with the help of the German government launched the DAFI Scholarship Programme, also known as Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, in Pakistan in 1992.

He told the workshop that currently around 116 Afghan refugee students, studying in different educational institutions of Pakistan, were receiving scholarships under the programme. Since 1992 a total of 826 scholarships were awarded in different disciplines under the programme.

"The scholarship is meant to promote self-reliance of refugees by providing them with a professional qualification geared towards future employment. It covers the financial expenses of a refugee student over a period ranging from one year to the maximum of five years", he said.

Shabnam Basharat, Education Officer UNHCR Tehran, said that the programme in Iran started in 1995 and around 600 refugee students had benefited from the scholarships. She said that during the current year 270 Afghan and Iraqi refugee students in Iran were receiving the DAFI scholarship.

Roya Sharifi, UNHCR Kabul, addressing the workshop said that her office had looked into courses and other educational institutional information inside Afghanistan. She said this information had already been shared with the UNHCR offices in Pakistan for Afghan students to refer for future continuation of studies.

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