Afghanistan to double number of students in India

Afghanistan proposes to double the number of its students in Indian and Turkish universities as part of moves to boost educational standards in the war torn country, President Hamid Karzai said here today.

He said the numbers of Afghan students to be send to Indian and Turkish universities would be raised from 500 to 1,000 this year and for this the government was increasing the foreign study allocation to $10 million from the present $5 million.

Karzai, who was speaking at the first school day of the famous Amani high school, recently renovated with Indian assistance, said his government also proposed to raise expense money of the students studying in India and Turkey, as he has received complaints from them, that they were not getting their money on time.

"This year we will send 1,000 high school graduate students for higher education to India and Turkey from our government badge," Karzai said, addressing the gathering of students, teacher and government officials. The school is also the alma mater of the President Karzai.

"We are thankful of India and Turkey for providing our students opportunities to study in their countries," said Karzai while he encouraged students that beside school subjects they must learn foreign languages that would help them in the future for their higher education.