US Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew Schofer said on Wednesday that US government provided support to 30,000 students to improve their English language skills across the Pakistan. He said this while talking to journalists after attending ceremony of “Access” Scholarship Programme, which is especially introduced for English language learning. Andrew Schofer stated that US government was offering scholarships to students for last 20 years. He stated that the US government was supporting in some other programmes also to develop leadership qualities and improve professional skills. About his ongoing visit to Multan, he remarked that he was very happy to visit Multan. In his addressing during ceremony, the US diplomat stated that he was much impressed to witness the cultural performances of the students. About English Access Scholarship programme, he hinted that the students would surely upgrade their English linguistic skills. “We want the students should succeed”, he maintained. Andrew added that the programme was being run since 2004 and so far 30,000 students got the scholarships for language learning.

Pinning high hopes from the new batch of 300 students, he stated that they would be able to speak English in near future. English Access Scholarship Program is one of the highlights of the longstanding cooperation between the United States and Pakistan Vice Chancellor Education University Asim Saeed also spoke and it was highly beneficial programme. It will not only help educate the kids but 300 families too. He also assured of all possible cooperation for the success of the programme. Highlighting the different features of the programme, The Coordinator Ms Rahat and some other officials informed the services of the 40 teachers were availed for the imparting language skill to students. Initially, over 100 teachers from across the region applied, however 40 were selected following a proper criteria. Similarly, nearly 1000 students applied for the scholarship and 300 were being offered scholarships, they maintained. On this occasion, the students presented tableaus and other performances especially relating to rich culture of south Punjab.

The matchless performances enthralled the audiences. US Consul General Ms Kristin K Hawkins and some other guests were also present. Later on, Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew Schofer also visited Lutfabad Mango Farm (LMFPU). In past, LMFPU was benefited from the USAID-funded FIRMS project (2009-2014) and the Agricultural Market Development (AMD) Project (2015-2019). It provided support to farms to gain GlobalGAP certification and to establish infrastructure such as a mango packing house and cold storage. Similarly, AMD provided state-of-the-art graders to 13 mango processing facilities in Punjab and Sindh. USAID supported LMFPU by assisting mango growers to expand exports to international high-end markets by meeting their grading and packaging requirements, the official stated.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan