provincial government has been allotted 10 acres state land in Balochistan to AIOU for set up a Model Study Centre at Kharan to fulfill the educational needs of the local people.
University’s Director Regional Services Inamullah Sheikh said in a statement that the board of Revenue, Balochistan leased out the land to the university free of cost, with the approval of the provincial government.
The land is located in the jurisdiction of Municipal Committee, Kharan. It will enable the university to establish the centre in its own building.
Earlier, the Study Centre was established in a house donated by the Chief Justice of Federal Shariat Court (FSC), Justice Muhammad Noor Meskanzai, who wanted to expand the educational facilities in the province.
He had appreciated the AIOU’s distance learning system to achieve the objective.
The centre was inaugurated on temporary basis in July last year by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum while he was on a tour to Balochistan for exploring more avenues of strengthening educational network in the province.
The Study Centre is a part of the Allama Iqbal Open University’s consistent efforts to upgrade the educational facilities particularly in the country’s far-flung regions.
Number of regional offices and the study centres is being increased on the instructions of the vice chancellor to bring the education at the door-steps of the people, particularly for those living in remote areas.
These offices and centres have been empowered to provide best possible service to its around 1.4 million students across the country.
It may be mentioned here that the university was providing free Matric-level education to the students from Balochistan, besides other financial support under its various scholarships’ schemes.
It was also the part of the university’s policy taking care of marginalized sections as well as less-developed regions of Balochistan.