The Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, awarded 158 Jinnah scholarships to students who have passed the GCE Ordinary Level, Advanced Level and Bachelor programmes, at a ceremony held at the Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo, last week.

The Chief Guest on the occasion, Education Minister Susil Premjayanth, thanked the Pakistani government for their unconditional support to Sri Lanka in various fields including education.

The Pakistani High Commissioner Shaheen A.Gilani, said that his country would continue to provide Sri Lankan students with better educational opportunities, that would enable them to enhance their nation building capacities.

Emphasising the importance of sharing bilateral capacities enabling socio-economic development of people, he said, that only strong societies will be resilient enough to sustain emerging challenges. "Strong societies make stronger nations. We need to help each other to be stronger in the face of contemporary challenges."

In 2007, the Jinnah Scholarship Scheme, provided a stipend to 85 students followed by 100 in 2008. In view of the importance of the project which had served to strengthen relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it decided to grant 158 scholarships in three categories this year. Each successful student, was given a stipend of Sri Lankan Rupees 24,000.