The response to the Indian offer of scholarships to Afghan students has been overwhelming, Indian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

During his official visit to Afghanistan in August 2005 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced grant of 500 scholarships for the Afghan students for pursuing University education in India.

Around 12,000 candidates are reported to have registered themselves for the pre-selection English language proficiency test, including 6,500 candidates in Kabul, 2,500 in Jalalabad, 1,500 in Mazar-e-Sharif, 650 in Herat and 420 in Kandahar, the ministry said.

On the basis of the results in the English language proficiency test and oral interviews conducted by the Embassy of India, 500 most meritorious students will be short-listed for award of scholarship and thereafter the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi, will be processing the same with the various universities for finalizing the admissions.

The ICCR was mandated to administer the scheme of scholarship. The scholarship offer includes all university level under-graduate and post-graduate courses in Arts, Science, Engineering, Commerce, Business Administration and Law.

The offer of scholarship by India has been widely reported in the Afghan media, including national and regional TV channels as also national and local radio stations besides various Afghan news dailies, the ministry said.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education, with whom the Embassy of India, Kabul has been coordinating selection of candidates, the response received for the scholarship scheme has been "revolutionary, never witnessed before in Afghanistan," Indian Foreign ministry said.

Source: Xinhua