Education fees cut for needy Palestinian students

Over 19,000 Palestinian students will receive a 75 per cent reduction in educational fees this semester through a programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the agency announced today.

The programme, funded by the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People, will enable 11 universities and 24 other establishments of higher education, many of them vocational, to grant fee waivers to needy students in the West Bank and Gaza.

The agency said that more than half of the waivers will be granted to female students.

So far, applications have been submitted for 27,398 students, 19,157 of whom will receive fee reductions, UNESCO said.