Scottish Government announces funding for women and girls in Pakistan

Funding of £400,000 to help disadvantaged women and girls in Pakistan complete their education has been announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The revised five-year programme will now provide scholarships to women and girls through their secondary education, undergraduate degree and onwards to cover a masters degree.

The First Minister attended Social Bite’s annual dinner in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening where Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, was a guest speaker.

Yousafzai became an activist for female education after being shot by the Taliban.

Sturgeon said: “Tackling poverty and inequality is a central aim of the Scottish Government, whether that is at home or abroad and girls still face the largest barriers to accessing secondary and undergraduate education.

“In 2013 we set up a masters scholarship scheme for Pakistani women which was inspired by Malala Yousafzai’s courageous campaign for better education for girls.

“The Scotland-Pakistan Scholarship for Young Women and Girls will help a new generation of Pakistani women and girls achieve their full potential and ambitions.”

Pakistan is one of the Scottish Government’s four international development partner countries.

Between 2013 and 2016, the Women’s Scholarship Programme has enabled more than 500 young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in Pakistan to study masters courses in Pakistani universities and the Children’s Scholarship Programme has enabled more than 4,000 children from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds to complete one year of school education at both primary and secondary levels.