Mission
To contribute towards nation building by facilitating quality education of young scholars to achieve excellence in academics. To provide this service regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion.
Objectives
It is the Trust’s objective to bring the service, i.e. quality education through scholarships, to young Pakistanis rather than take them to the service, i.e. invest in “bricks and mortar” to develop yet more buildings. Our investment will go directly into the product – Young Pakistanis.
- We intend to provide sustainable scholarships to capable young Pakistanis – those who qualify the entrance criteria for specific educational institutions but can not afford to attend these, so they may get a chance to use their intellect, develop their skills, improve their quality of life and, eventually, add to the nation’s pool of skilled human resource. Our selected candidates will be called “Rizwan Scholars”.
- We intend to monitor the progress of these Scholars throughout the supported timeline of their academic careers in order to engender in them the principles that Air Cdre Rizwanullah Khan personified – hard work, self-confidence, healthy and honest competition, and absolute faith in Allah so they stand prepared to take advantage of life’s opportunities when they present themselves.
- Although the foremost criterion for allocating a scholarship would be a Scholar’s financial need, our Scholars will not simply be those who seek financial aid. After identifying a group in need of support, Scholars would be selected from the group through a manageable procedure of screening and filtering, hopefully with the cooperation of the institution’s faculty, so that a combination of need and ability is identified. Of all the aspects of this venture, this would perhaps be the most challenging – choosing the optimum candidates for the program.
- In order to make the venture effective, majority of Scholars would be selected from specific age groups. For example, pre-schoolers and primary school children would not be the ideal candidates and we do not intend to provide non-tertiary scholarships at all. The ideal Scholars would emerge from the age group of 18 to 25, those who are readying for FA/FSc to those entering university for Bachelors, Masters. MPhil and PhD programs. Thus, it must be clear to all stakeholders that this Trust is not an attempt at unregulated charity. It is a support structure for those who qualify on several different criteria.
- A key aspect of our venture is mentoring of Scholars. We feel it is not enough to fund a candidate’s education. Rather, it is necessary to add further value by interacting with the candidate on a regular basis to improve his/her performance and, generally, his/her academic experience. Thus, just like our own children, our Scholars would be our responsibility beyond finances. For this, we hope to call upon the worldwide Pakistani community to assist. Mentors will be appointed from volunteers who can choose the institution or the program or academic speciality with which they would like to be associated.
- The Trust’s activities do not include building of schools. We do not envision limiting our activities to a particular geographic location within the country. We intend to use the educational facilities already available in country, those accredited by the Pakistan Higher Education Commission http://www.hec.gov.pk. There are, however, some exceptions. We intend to support a few students at non-tertiary level at institutions that Air Cdre Rizwan attended such as Cadet College Hasanabdal and PAF College Sargodha. In addition, we remain committed to supporting children of non-commissioned officers and “sipahis” who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
- If, and when, the Trust can afford it, we intend to sponsor Scholars for international degree programs, hopefully even into Ivy League institutions. This Trust would build upon the efforts of existing non-profit ventures and sponsor higher studies for Scholars drawn from these programs or from the community at large.