PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has officially launched the Insaf Female Education Card, a financial safety net aimed at ensuring higher education is free for female students and orphans in public sector institutions.
The initiative, announced last week by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi at Frontier College for Women, Peshawar, is being actively rolled out under his administration.
Secretary Higher Education KP Kamran Ahmed Afridi told Pakistan TV Digital that “the groundwork for this scheme was laid during the tenure of former Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, highlighting a sustained commitment to education reform across political transitions.”
Speaking to Pakistan TV Digital, Muzzammil Aslam, Advisor Finance & Inter-Provincial Coordination to the Chief Minister KP, said the provincial government had declared an “education emergency” to prioritize female education.
“Even when girls manage to attend school, many parents still do not allow them to study further. To encourage parents to send their daughters for higher education, an endowment-based scholarship fund has been created,” he said.
The program targets financial barriers that often prevent girls from continuing education in rural areas. “In many families, sons are prioritized for college if funds are limited. This scheme will help girls avail higher education along with boys,” Afridi said.
The scheme specifically targets female students and orphans, aiming to improve retention and ensure state guardianship for vulnerable students.
The card functions as a complete tuition waiver. According to the Higher Education Department, it covers all admission, examination, and tuition fees, ensuring financial constraints do not force students to abandon their studies after matriculation.
Aslam added that the Chief Minister had approved a two-billion-rupee scholarship endowment fund, from which nearly 14,000 girls, including 1,731 orphaned students, will benefit.
“Until the endowment fund becomes fully operational, the provincial government will issue Rs325 million [$1.15 million] from the provincial finance department for the first phase,” he explained.
He said that as of 11 November 2025, Rs118 million ($418,050) have already been released for 54,354 girls, including 1,730 orphans, a figure that also includes 3,442 girls and 207 orphans from the merged districts.
“In the future, the endowment fund will make the program sustainable. If more girls qualify, the fund will be expanded,” he noted, adding that scholarships will eventually be financed through the fund’s own income to avoid repeated budget requests.
Social activist Spogmay Masood praised the initiative, telling Pakistan TV Digital: “This is an excellent initiative by the Government, as long as it's sustainable and can be scalable in the future so more and more girls and orphans can be incentivised to go for higher education.”
The rollout will initially benefit 54,085 students across KP, including 52,354 female students and 1,731 orphans. To support the program, the provincial cabinet approved an Endowment Fund of Rs2 billion ($7.09 million) last year.
Meanwhile, the Finance Department provided an interim allocation of Rs325 million, of which Rs118.367 million ($419,500) has already been reimbursed to institutions as of November 11, 2025.
The initiative emphasizes inclusivity, with particular focus on the Merged Districts (formerly FATA) and underprivileged areas with low female literacy. Initial data shows 3,472 female students and 207 orphans from these regions are enrolled.
Operationally, the secretary clarified that students must be enrolled in government institutes. Once eligibility is confirmed, the government reimburses the institution directly, “bypassing the red tape often associated with cash-transfer scholarships,” the department said.
According to social activist Rabia Qayyum, “The launch of the Insaf Female Education Card by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government marks an important and commendable step toward gender equality and social inclusion.”
She said by providing free intermediate-level education to nearly 55,000 female students and orphaned children in public colleges, the initiative aims to remove one of the most significant obstacles young women encounter, the financial burden of pursuing further studies.
“So it's a marvelous step by the government,” she added.
The Insaf Female Education Card represents a strategic shift in KP’s education policy, moving from infrastructure development to direct student investment, and aims to institutionalize the right to education for the province’s daughters.
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