Science Talent Farming Scheme

The project has been conceived by Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) under “Pakistan Vision 2025” program of Government of Pakistan. Initially, an amount of Rs.1.00 billion was allocated under Public Service Development Program (PSDP) by Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform (MoPDR) for “Science Talent Farming Scheme (STFS)”. The scheme was envisioned to be implemented through the collaborative effort of relevant existing institutions and Science enthusiasts in the public and private sector. Main goals of STFS are;

• i. Attracting youth towards Science in early years of education.
• ii. Developing a competitive knowledge economy through value addition.
• iii. Improving the quality of Science and technology education particularly in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics for students of Govt schools.

Realizing the nature of the project and its relevance to PSF statutory functions, the PSF management thoroughly discussed various aspects of the scheme with the S&T wing of MoPDR. Consultative meeting was organized jointly by PSF and MoPDR on 2 December, 2014 in the committee room of the Planning Commission. In the light of the deliberations of the consultative meeting, PSF prepared the PC-I titled “Science Talent Farming Scheme for 1800 Young Students” in close consultation with Science & Technology wing of the MoPDR. The PC-I was approved in principle, by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on 9 June, 2015, with certain suggestions including recommendation to establish a “National Science School” in nearby areas of Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
It was also agreed that in the second phase, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) will take care of these STFS students upto Ph.D. level. Subsequently, the PSDP allocation of Rs.450.00 million for STFS was surrendered by the HEC and placed in the PSDP of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The PC-I was revised and re-submitted to the MoPDR and accordingly authorization letter was issued by MoPDR (PIA section) on 5 November, 2015. The administrative approval of the project was issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology on 15 December, 2015 at a total cost of Rs.1,514.499 million.

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