PESHAWAR, Nov 25: The execution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government`s special initiative of paying monthly stipend to unemployed fresh master degree holders is impossible as it has allocated a meagre amount for the scheme, according to sources.

`The provincial government is required to triple the allocated fund otherwise it will put the education department in a fix to execute the scheme,` a member of the provincial cabinet told Dawn.A sum of Rs500 million has been allocated in the budget for year 2013-14 for the scheme. Monthly stipends will be paid to fresh graduates of universities and religious seminaries under the scheme.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, who is also minister for finance, had announced on the assembly`s floor during the budget speech that under the scheme, each eligible graduate would be paid monthly stipend of Rs2,000.

The financial assistance for the jobless qualified youth is only for one year.

The allocated amount of Rs500 million for the scheme was sufficient to pay stipends to 20,083 graduates, sources said. However, the number of graduates, whowere completing their education every year at universities, postgraduate colleges, professional colleges and seminaries, was much higher than that, sources added.

A senior official of higher education department said that besides 20 public sector universities in the province, the number of registered seminaries was around 1,000. `If 30 graduates are selected from each seminary, the number of stipendseekers would reach 30,000,` he added.

The students qualifying the master degree examinations from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 would be entitled to get stipends. The allocated amount was not sufficient to grant stipend to the graduates of seminaries alone so what the education department would do with the students of universities, the official questioned.

`Actually the finance department had not consulted with the education department prior to announcing the stipend scheme,` he said.

The official said that the government would not have to face the current confusion if finance department had taken the education department on board about the scheme.He said that finance department would have allocated proper fund for the scheme keeping in view the number of graduates if it had sought data from the education department of the students graduating every year from the educational institutions.

`Exactly, the allocated fund is not sufficient to award stipends to all the graduates, having master or equivalent degree,` said Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, special assistant to chief minister on higher education, when contacted.

He said that a detailed briefing for the chief minister was prepared by the higher education department to inform him about the situation. `We will demand of the chief minister to increase the fund,` he added.

Mr Ghani said that he was expecting that around 70,000 students got master degree from the universities and seminaries every year.

The education department would have no option but to set tough criteria for the graduates being selected for the stipend if the fund was notincreased, he added.

The data collection of graduates, particularly from the seminaries, disburse-ment of stipends and other arrangements was a very difficult task to be accomplished, sources said.