I am a student at Harvard University and was lucky enough to receive a full scholarship from the university to cover my tuition and living expenses for my two academic years. While I am extremely grateful for this generosity, I do remember how frustrating the process of finding scholarships had been for me.
I was accepted into the prestigious master’s programme for three consecutive years, but funding was scarce to come by, leading me to despairingly either defer or decline the acceptance each time.
At this moment, I am the only South Asian enrolled in this programme, and while two more very capable students from Pakistan have gotten accepted, they cannot find a way to pay for this education; therefore, they have deferred the acceptances till the next year.
This is heart-breaking, considering how rare such opportunities are to come by for hardworking, intelligent students, and how important it is for our country to be represented in a positive light at a coveted international university.
My cohort includes students from Indonesia, China and Egypt, and the governments of these countries have funded these students’ education without them having any political connections or overtly affluent backgrounds.
The question then arises: why can we not have such funds available to our students? I understand we are struggling economically and are severely disadvantaged but should this not be a point of concern for the authorities in any way, even if a few years down the road? Would they not want to see Pakistani students return to their country with a stellar education so they may make some difference?
The Pakistanis I have met at Harvard are mostly those who could fund their education themselves, or take loans to pay off later.
But what should the students who cannot afford either option do? Those in power should pay attention to the matter. As things stand currently, they suggest a rather sad state of affairs.
SARA AHMAD
KARACHI
