The Laptop Steering Committee has decided that students applying under the second phase of the province’s laptop distribution scheme will be verified through NADRA before receiving their devices, according to media reports citing officials familiar with the decision. The verification requirement was agreed upon during a meeting of the Steering Committee, though no specific date has yet been announced for when the second phase will formally launch.
Formal approval for the second phase distribution will still need to be sought from the Chief Minister through a summary before the process can move forward, indicating that the scheme remains in its planning stages even as the verification mechanism has already been finalized. The Higher Education Department has not yet set a confirmed schedule for the phase, leaving students across the province, including many in Sahiwal division who missed out during the first round of distribution, continuing to wait for updates on when they might receive their laptops.
Under the second phase, the government aims to distribute laptops to 100,000 students this year, a considerably larger rollout compared to the scheme’s first phase. The merit based initiative was originally launched last year, with more than 40,000 students receiving laptops during that earlier round. Students who qualify for the upcoming second phase say they continue to wait for an official announcement confirming when distribution will begin.
The introduction of NADRA verification as a mandatory step reflects a broader pattern seen across various government administered schemes in Pakistan, where identity verification through NADRA has increasingly become a standard safeguard to ensure that only eligible applicants receive benefits under public sector programs. Officials have not yet indicated a specific timeline for when the verification process itself will begin, and students eligible for the second phase remain without a confirmed date for either the start of verification or the eventual distribution of laptops under the expanded scheme.
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