Some areas in K-P have no colleges

A statistical report published in July shows there are 249 colleges across the province

PESHAWAR: It seems that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s laser-eyed focus on improving higher education in the province seems to have missed a few spots.

District Torghar in the northeast of the province does not even have a single college for either boys or girls. On the other hand, Kohistan, located north of Torghar, has two colleges — both for boys and none for girls of the district.



A statistical report on Government Colleges and Higher Education Institutes in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) published in July showed that there are 249 colleges across the province. These are stacked in favour of boys with 148 dedicated to them, while there are only 101 colleges for girls.

Peshawar has the most colleges with 25. Of these 12 are for boys while 13 are for girls — among a handful of districts where more colleges are dedicated for girls than for boys. Mardan has the second highest number of colleges with 22. Of these 12 are for boys and 10 are for girls.

Further, the report showed the Swabi has 17 colleges (nine for boys and eight for girls), 16 in Bannu (11 for boys and six for girls), 15 in Abbottabad (six for boys and 11 for girls), 13 in DI Khan (nine for boys and four for girls), 13 in Haripur (five for boys and eight for girls), 13 in Swat (eight for boys and five for girls), 12 in Malakand (eight for boys and four for girls), 11 in Charsadda (six for boys and five for girls), 11 in Nowshera (seven for boys and four for girls), 11 in Lower Dir (seven for boys and four for girls), 11 in Karak (eight for boys and three for girls), nine in Kohat (five for boys and four for girls), nine in Mansehra (six for boys and three for girls), eight in Lakki Marwat (six for boys and two for girls), six in Hangu (four for boys and two for girls), five in Upper Dir (four for boys and one for girls), five in Buner (four for boys and one for girls), five in Chitral (three for boys and two for girls), five in Shangla (three for boys and two for girls), three in Tank (two for boys and one for girls), and two in Battagram (one for boys and one for girls).

However, in Kohistan and Torghar have no higher education facilities for girls who are forced to travel to other districts for higher education.

According to the 2017 census, Torghar has a population of 171,387, which is slightly more dominated by men who number in at 86,157. Women come in slightly less at 85,230.

Similarly, in Kohistan, the population was counted as 784,702 which was overwhelmingly dominated by men at 434,956. However, the district has a not-so-insignificant female population of 349,746, but it has no colleges to cater to these women.

Meanwhile, the Adviser to K-P Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani maintained that the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has completed record work in the higher education sector.

He added that before they took over, there were just 170 colleges across the province. The government’s efforts have pushed this number to over 220 catering to both genders.

Apart from general degree colleges, the higher education minister said there were 35 colleges teaching management sciences to students in the province. A further 14 other colleges are planned to be built in different districts of the province which may push the total number of colleges to over 250.

Asked about the dearth of colleges in some districts, Ghani said that around 50 to 60 general colleges are under construction in different districts and that they were prioritising construction of those colleges where higher education facilities are not available.

Ghani reiterated that his government was focusing on educating girls and that most of the new colleges being built in the province are for girls.



He added that the government had set up nine new universities in the province including the Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, a women’s university in Swabi, Shuhada-e-Army Public School University of Technology in Nowshera, a women’s university in Mardan, University of Buner, University of Chitral, University of Agriculture in DI Khan, University of Engineering and Technology Mardan and University of Science and Technology Lakki Marwat.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2017.