Srinagar based class 12 student Maleeha Zehra has bagged a $70,000 (over Rs 51 lakh) full-ride scholarship to study at the prestigious Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, as per an Indian Express report.
The teenager told IE that the news was beyond her imagination. "I am on cloud nine. This is beyond my imagination — everything that I am feeling and everything that is happening," Maleeha. My parents and everyone in my family are happy. People who I haven't been in touch with for years are now calling and congratulating me." Maleeha said.
The teenager says that the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, conversion of the state into two Union Territories in 2019, suspension of internet services following the lockdown imposed had affected her application process. However, her grades and an exchange programme in Brazil she went on in 2018 all added to her application.
Maleeha has currently decided to hold off celebrations until the second wave of the pandemic tapers off and cases begin to drop.