Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, assured the National Assembly on Thursday that students of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) would be included in the Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme.

In response to a calling attention notice raised by Shahida Begum regarding the exclusion of AIOU students from the scheme, the minister explained that a final decision on the PM’s Laptop Scheme is still pending. However, he reassured the assembly that this issue would be addressed during the decision-making process.Siddiqui emphasized the government’s commitment to ensuring AIOU students benefit from the program, noting that since its launch in 2013, the scheme has distributed over 10,000 laptops to students, including those from AIOU and Virtual University (VU).

Shahida Begum highlighted that many AIOU students, particularly from remote areas in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, come from disadvantaged backgrounds. She stressed that these students, especially those pursuing Ph.D. and M.Phil. degrees, rely heavily on laptops for their studies.