Like other parts of the country, the award of Ehsaas Taleemi-Wazaef has started across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, the students from primary to higher secondary schools would get quarterly stipends up to Rs4,000. The applications have already been invited from deserving families with no deadline and students can apply for the program at anytime from anywhere, an official document available with this agency revealed. Under the program which was launched by the Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government would pay a quarterly cash stipend of Rs1,500 to boy students and Rs2,000 to girls of primary class. Similarly, male students of secondary class would get Rs2,500 and girls Rs3,000. The quarterly stipend for students of higher secondary classes has been fixed Rs3,500 for boys and Rs4,000 for the females, it said. The program aimed to encourage parents in order to send their children, especially females to schools. The only eligibility criteria set for availing the scholarship is 70 percent attendance of the students at schools. Parents and students can apply for the stipend while submitting an application form along with birth certificate and CNIC at Ehsaas Program Centres or Ehsaas Registration Centres. According to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Special Initiatives Dr Sania Nisthar, the government has allocated Rs8 billion for the welfare project. Pakistan currently has 19.1 million out-of-school children in the country and it is hoped that such programmes will reduce that number and improve literacy, she said.