Varsity, six new degree colleges to be established in Rawalpindi

Staff, not space, is what district colleges suffer from most in the garrison city


Qaiser Sherazi January 22, 2019
Staff, not space, is what district colleges suffer from most in the garrison city. PHOTO: REUTERS

RAWALPINDI: With the government’s stated priority on improving education, the provincial higher education department has decided to set up six new degree colleges and a university in Rawalpindi.

However, one of the biggest issues that the 40 colleges in the district face are a shortage of teachers.

The Punjab Higher Education Commission has prepared a proposal to set up some 35 new degree colleges and five universities across the province which would offer classes from the intermediate level all the way up to postgraduate.

Of these, five degree colleges for girls and one for boys will be built in Rawalpindi. A new, modern technical college will also be built in the city.

The five new girls’ degree colleges will be built in Mandara, Kalaryala, Chak Beli Khan, Sanghoi and Chakwal.

The plan also includes establishing a new degree college near Airport Road.

Teaching and non-teaching staff in these colleges will be appointed between July and August while the admissions process will begin in September.

Furthermore, of the new universities one each will be established in Rawalpindi, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad and Sialkot.

Even as the government plans to set up new colleges, work on a college in Saddar has been pending for the past 10 years with 90 per cent of its structure complete.

Moreover, the 40 post-graduate and degree colleges currently in Rawalpindi have as many as 500 posts for teachers and 400 posts for non-teaching staff vacant.

Currently, there are 1,932 lecturers employed in these colleges, including 1,140 women lecturers and professors and 792 male professors and lecturers.

No new lecturers have been appointed in these colleges for the past three years. New non-teaching staff have not been appointed for the past eight years ago due to which educational and administrative activities in the colleges have been facing problems.

Furthermore, around 60 per cent posts for librarians in the district have also been vacant for the past 15 years. The shortage of trained librarians has put library-related operations on hold or has been handed over to administrative clerks to manage.

Moreover, libraries in the colleges have not received any new books from the government for the past 10 years.

College directorate officials hope that the process to fill these vacant seats could start over the next two months.

The official added that the Punjab higher education commission has sent a request to the public service commission in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2019.

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