K-P govt geared towards boosting higher education sector

Thirty nine new colleges have been established

PESHAWAR: The provincial government is spending a considerable amount of money to promote the quality and access to higher education and research in the province.

At this stage, there has been over 100% increase in funding on the sector.

A progress report of the past three years issued by the education department stated the budget utilisation remained 104% in 2013-14, 103% in 2014-15 and 111% in 2015-16.

The budget allocation for four years stands at Rs22.8billion. Previously, the budget allocation for the initial four years stood at Rs10.348 billion.

As part of promoting higher education in the province, the government has upgraded Havelian Campus of Hazara University. Provisions have also been made in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 2016-17 to upgrade campuses in Chitral and Buner to universities.

At least two colleges for home economics have been established in Nowshera and Abbottabad to promote gender-specific education. Meanwhile, two women universities have been established in Mardan and Swabi. The colleges are the first-of-its-kind in the province with separate buildings. To promote research in universities of K-P, 199 MPhil and 120 PhD students were provided financial assistance under the faculty development programme during the past three years.

The government has also initiated programmes in various colleges for which Rs424 million have been spent in recruiting teachers. In addition, Rs200 million have been released in the ADP for 2015-16 for the same purpose.

Furthermore, 39 new colleges have been established in the province, whereas 41 colleges are under construction. These colleges have been constructed after conducting feasibility studies to ensure uniform access to higher education in the province.

Under the capacity and human resource development plan, Rs81 million have been spent during the last three years for in-service and pre-service training of teachers.

At this stage, more than 835 teachers have been trained by the Higher Education Teachers Training Academy (HETTA) in teaching methodology, financial and administrative skills.

As part of bringing teaching methods in line with modern requirements, the government has established eight digital laboratories and three are included in the ADP for 2016-17.

According to officials of the education department, the digital laboratories will help students to perform experiments using computer software. It will help them to identify the ratio of chemicals needed in various experiments. The software will not only help students avoid mistakes committed during experimentation but will also help save revenue by reducing the use of chemicals.

The ADP for 2016-17 also includes establishment of digital libraries which will help students in accessing books, latest learning material and libraries throughout the world. The libraries will be established with the support of HEC. The facility will be extended to three government colleges in the province.

In addition, three public libraries have been established in Kohat, Lakki Marwat and Chitral, while work on libraries in Mansehra, Charsadda, Buner and Ghazi is in progress. At least Rs125 million have been provided for development of public libraries and archives and Rs30 million have been allocated for scanning, digitalisation and computerisation of public libraries.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2016.