Christian community to retain Peshawar's Edwardes College

K-P Governor Shah Farman denies any plan to nationalise the mission institution

PESHAWAR: Edwardes College of Peshawar was owned by the Christian community and would remain theirs, Governor Shah Farman said addressing a press conference at the Governor House on Saturday.

He assured that the principal of the college would also be from the Christian community and clearly stated that the institution was not being nationalised.

The Church Missionary Society established the Church Mission College in 1900 as an outgrowth of Edwardes High School, which had been founded in 1855 by the society as the first institution of western-style schooling in the northwest frontier region of what was British India.

On the November 18, the Board of Governors of Edwardes College will make decisions regarding the college, Farman said adding, “we also have to restore the quality of the college and gain the confidence of the students and their parents.”

He said that Edwards College issue has been in media for a long time, while the provincial and federal governments always pleaded for establishing the state of Madinah and the model based on the justice in all matters, everyone should get their rights, and cleared that there is no truth in that the Edwards College to be nationalised.

It is owned by the Christian community and its principal will remain with the Christian community, said that it was propaganda that it was going to be nationalised. “I wrote the letter to the Principal of the Board of Governors' Council of the Colleges College, the students protested, they were stopped, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Assembly referred the case to the PHC,” governor said

The Peshawar High Court has already cleared in their decision that Edwardes College being the oldest education institution of the province and the student who enrolled in the college previous have record in the board exams but due to the various factors interferences and false propaganda on social media, badly affected the education and results.

“The principal of the Edwardes College can be a local or foreigner, the decision has been left to the board of governors, which is meeting on the November 18,” he said. “No minister will be allowed to interfere into the affairs of the Edwardes College and the decisions will be made in the light of the board of governor committee’s instructions,” Farman said.

The provincial government has assigned minority Senator Willam to look into the affairs of the college, but the principal has interfered and issued show cause notice, which disturbed the interfaith harmony of the various sections of the religion, he said.

He urged that the parents should not heed to the propaganda on the social media. “We will take the institution to the heights where it once used to be,” he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2019.