Education devolution: Punjab government wants control of NCA

College ‘will lose prestige’ if separated from Centre.

LAHORE:

While the administration of the National College of Arts (NCA) is happy that the college remains under federal control, the provincial authorities are pushing for the country’s oldest fine arts institution to come under their remit.

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution made education a provincial subject. However, when the Ministry of Education was delved, control over NCA was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination.

A senior government officer told The Express Tribune that Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, in a recent letter to the prime minister, raised this issue. He said that the college has two branches in the country, both in Punjab.

“NCA is the only education institution in Punjab that has been shifted from one federal ministry to another after the 18th Amendment,” he added.

“The Punjab government is not ready to surrender. The college should have been transferred to the province and we are going to plead our case.

We hope that the centre won’t hinder the devolution process by keeping those institutes that should technically be in the jurisdiction of the province,” he said, citing the chief minister’s letter.

Recently, during its convocation, the prime minister announced that the college would be awarded the status of a university. Members of the college administration and faculty say the college should remain under the federal government to maintain its reputation.

“NCA has students from around the world. Its board members are renowned personalities and educationists. Shifting the college to the province will affect its international prestige. We are happy about the decision and want NCA to be in the centre,” a head of the department at NCA told The Tribune.

The PM in his speech at the convocation had said that the college was shifted to the centre by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. So, in his memory, the college would remain with the centre, the PM had said.

NCA Registrar Nadeem Hasan Khan said that the process of giving the college university status was underway. He said that in a recent meeting, the Board of Governors, unanimously decided not to change the name of the college. “The name has great significance so the board decided to keep it unchanged,” he said.

The college would be called the National College of Arts _ A Charted University, Khan added.

A little bit of history

NCA was established in 1875 as the Mayo School of Arts with funds raised through a special levy at the birth anniversary of the British Queen in 1887.

It contained a museum, a library and a few lecture rooms. In 1958, the school was renamed by the then West Pakistan government as NCA.

In 1963, it was taken away from the Department of Industries and placed under the Education Department with its own Board of Governors. Later, ZA Bhutto shifted the institution from the province to the centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2011.