Tag: Scholarships

The Sindh government has completed preparations for the Sindh Youth Card, which Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is scheduled to inaugurate this month, officials have said.

A meeting chaired by Sindh Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar reviewed the arrangements for the launch. In the first phase, one hundred thousand young people aged sixteen to twenty-nine from all thirty districts of Sindh will receive the card.

The card will bring services from thirteen government departments onto a shared digital platform. Holders will be able to access scholarships and internships, along with discounted public transport on the Green Line, the Orange Line and the People’s Bus Service.

A proposed twenty-five percent discount on all Pakistan Railways routes is also part of the package, along with special discounts on domestic air travel. Women entrepreneurs will be eligible for special grants and financial assistance under the scheme, according to the plan.

The Youth Card is aimed at giving young people in Sindh a single route into education, work and travel support, rather than requiring them to apply separately to each department. Officials say the digital platform behind the card will link the participating departments so that benefits can be delivered through one system.

No date within the month has been announced for the inauguration itself, and details of how young people can apply for the first phase are expected to be shared at the launch. The scheme is one of the provincial government’s flagship youth initiatives, and its first phase will test demand before any wider rollout.

The transport benefits alone could make a real difference for students and young workers who travel daily. Discounted fares on city bus services and the proposed rail discount would cut the cost of getting to college, university and work, while the air travel discounts are aimed at young people who need to fly within the country for study or family reasons.

For young women, the scheme adds a further layer of support. Special grants and financial assistance for women entrepreneurs are designed to help women who want to start small businesses but struggle to raise starting capital, and the inclusion of scholarships and internships is meant to open a clearer path from education into paid work.

Officials say covering all thirty districts in the first phase matters because young people outside Karachi and the larger cities often have the least access to government services. By putting thirteen departments on one digital platform, the province hopes that a young person in a smaller district will be able to reach the same benefits as someone in a major city, without travelling between offices or filing separate applications.