Karzai vows to increase scholarships for studies abroad

KABUL): President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday the number of Afghan students and teachers receiving scholarships for study abroad would be increased next year and the government would pay expenses for the purpose.    

Addressing a ceremony marking the opening of the 16th term of Parliament, which entered a second year, Karzai said 500 intelligent students and teachers had been sent to India and Turkey this year for bachelor, master and doctorate studies.

The process cost the government $5 million, he said, adding his administration planned to send 1,000 students for overseas education next academic year.

“The students would get education in areas of agriculture‘s famous universities,” the president said. Karzai vowed to increase the budget for the purpose from the current $5 million to $10 million.

Higher education ministry spokesman, Mohammad Azim Noorbakhsh, welcomed Karzai’s announcement, saying the ministry would assign a delegation with a search for standard foreign institutions. 

About 2,000 Afghan students are currently studying in Japan, Korea, the United States and Germany, according the spokesman, who hoped that the number would soar to 3,000 next solar year.

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