Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will provide free education to the Matric-level students from Balochistan as well as those who could not carry on their education due to financial constraints. This was stated by the Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Zia-Ul-Qayyum while addressing notables and the University’s tutors and regional coordinators at Ziarat, Balochistan, says a message received here on Monday. The University will set up its Model Study Center in Ziarat to upgrade the educational facilities and facilitate the local people. It could also launch technical and vocational courses for the local youth, enabling them to earn their livelihood and have a respectable place in the society. The poor people, he assured will be given fee-concession under its various scholarship schemes. The University will make special efforts bringing the illiterate and drop-out children in the educational net, keeping in view the importance of Quaid-i-Azam Residency at Ziarat. This could be their humble effort to pay tributes to the great leader and the founder of the country, he added. The Vice Chancellor urged the local representatives to help get enrolled maximum number of people with the University during its ongoing admissions that will continue till September 4. The AIOU is actively engaged in promoting literacy in the country’s less-developed regions through its special academic projects under distance learning system. It was already providing free education to the drop-out girls at various places, with the help of some Foreign-funded institutions, like Plan International. He noted that there is high number of drop-out children in Balochistan that could be brought in the educational net, through distance learning system. Director Regional Services Inamullah Sheikh also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the initiatives being taken for expanding the educational net and strengthening their regional offices in the country.