Karachi:Bayer has pledged $675,000 (USD) for the Bayer scholarship program which will fund the university education of sixteen Asian University for Women (AUW) students.

According to a statement on Saturday, nine of the sixteen Bayer Scholars will be selected by AUW from the rural farming communities of Bangladesh, and seven will be selected from other smallholder farming communities in South and Southeast Asia, including Pakistan.

The scholarships will cover two years of precollegiate study and the first year of AUW’s three-year undergraduate degree program and will run from August 2022 – to July 2025. Bayer will also provide internships to sixteen AUW students who hold an interest in agribusiness.

Monika Lessl, Senior Vice President Corporate R and D and Social Innovation and Executive Director of Bayer Foundation: “At Bayer, we are constantly working towards creating a world where everyone has access to essential services – be it health, nutrition or education. A key step in achieving this goal, is to bridge the gender gap in education.

Hence, we are delighted to support women students pursuing higher education at the Asian University for women through our scholarship program and hope that these women students will not only transform their lives through education but also serve as a beacon of hope to other women students in their communities.”

Kamal Ahmad, Founder of the Asian University for Women said, ” In all our communities, we are separated by one divide after another: the poor vs. the rich, those with access to power and privilege and those without. In the midst of all of these divides, it is the rural-urban divide that is probably most decisive in predicting the future of those born across them.

By dedicating scholarships to the daughters of landless agricultural workers, AUW joins Bayer in lifting the curtain against that great divide and creating a pathway to discover and nurture the teeming talents that the tyranny of our divided societies otherwise suppress. We look forward to welcoming the Bayer Scholars to our AUW community and so grateful to Bayer for extending such pioneering support.”