DOHA: Some 5,000 students from needy Qatari, expatriate and GCC families have been selected by a key state-backed charitable body for scholarships for the academic year 2012-13.
The scholarships are for students from different levels of education—from kindergartens to university—and range from QR10,000 a year to QR20,000.
However, the Zakat Fund said it would meet all education and clothing expenses of students with special needs (who the Fund said are a priority for them) and pay them meet actual expenses with no limit specified for them.
The Fund has earmarked QR24m for the student scholarship programme for 2012-13, up QR1m from the previous academic year when the budget was QR23m and the beneficiaries totaled 4,376.
Announcing the budget at a press conference held last week, Mohammad Yaqub Al Ali, Assistant Director, Zakat Fund said that only those students whose parents are employed in the private sector are eligible for the scholarships.
According to the project, pre-school students will receive scholarship of up to QR10,000, elementary students (QR13,000), middle school students (QR15,000), secondary school students (QR17,000) while university students will be given away QR20,000 a year.
Al Ali added that a total of QR160m has been spent on the student scholarship programme since its inception in 1996. The number of beneficiaries is increasing every year. In 2011-12, some 4,376 needy students benefited from the largesse.
The Peninsula
