The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan will provide electric wheelchairs to physically challenged students of universities and colleges in the third phase of the Prime Minister's Electric Wheelchair Scheme.

According to a document available with WealthPK, the scheme has been announced under the initiative "Inclusive Development-Leaving No One Behind".

The HEC has invited applications from students having ambulatory disabilities and enrolled or being enrolled at the public sector universities and affiliated colleges for undergraduate, Master and PhD programmes during Semester 2022-23.

The electric wheelchairs will be distributed among students, who have physical and permanent ambulatory disabilities to such a degree that they are unable to move from one place to another without a wheelchair.

Similarly, the students, who are not able to cross curbs because of paralysis or loss of function of legs and those who have missed one or both legs, are also eligible for the programme.

The students registered or being registered for the academic session 2022-23 with HEC-recognised public sector universities and affiliated colleges of all provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in undergraduate, postgraduate, MS/MPhil and PhD programmes are also eligible for the scheme.

The documents said that the students must have a valid certificate of special person/ambulatory disability from the relevant competent authority government institutions to fall in the eligible criteria. They must not have received electric wheelchairs during the previous phases of the scheme.

The HEC has advised the students, who meet the eligibility criteria, to fill out and submit the online application form available at: eportal.hec.gov.pk/wheelchair by November 30, 2022. Take a print of the application form, attach the necessary documents and submit it at the office of the respective vice-chancellor, registrar or designated person.

The universities and their affiliated colleges will forward all eligible cases to the HEC in one transaction by December 31, 2022, for the distribution of electric wheelchairs on merit, according to the documents available with WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk