Academic woes: Degree college students taking classes in tents and bus

The college admin has arranged for these alternatives in absence of a proper building.

ABBOTABAD: For students of Government Girls’ Degree College Havelian, it is not unusual to take classes in tented make-shift classrooms or the college bus. But they continue to suffer due to the lack of basic facilities at their institution.

The college has been running in a borrowed building of a high school since 2001 and the students are forced to face difficulties in the absence of any alternative arrangement. Occupying about 1.5 kanal, the college comprises 16 rooms and a capacity for 1,200 students. However, the strength continues to increase with students trickling in from over 60 villages of Havelian Tehsil.

Furthermore, there is no furniture or lab facility, the teachers have to conduct one-third of the daily classes with students sitting on mats in the open, while over four classes are held in tented classrooms and a shelter.

“All it takes to disrupt a class is rain or the scorching heat,” said a college teacher requesting anonymity. She added that to in order to avoid the cold and rainy weather, some of the teachers relocate classes to the college bus parked in the college vicinity.

Most of the junior classes are held simultaneously in the same classroom, which creates distraction for both the students and teachers, said a student on a condition of anonymity.

“It is sickening that the girls are forced to study in an atmosphere which is detrimental to their progress,” said Shumaila, a student of second year sciences group. She lamented that there are no proper labs and during the rainy weather it becomes problematic for them to study in the tented classroom. She accused the local elected representatives for their indifference towards the matter.

Sidra Bibi, another student criticised Qazi Asad, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister (K-P) for Higher Education who belongs to the Hazara Division, who could not approve funds for a proper building of the college. She said the college building has no sports facility either as it lacks grounds and space, forcing the girls to spend their free periods roaming around the classes.

“The K-P Education Department has approved an amount of Rs200,000 for new furniture but we what use is the grant when the building is short of classrooms?” an official of the college administration remarked.

The official said that political influences are playing a major role in the college’s administrative affairs. For instance, there is only one post each for Urdu and Maths teacher, but two Urdu teachers and three Math teachers have been employed. Meanwhile, six sanctioned posts at the college are vacant, as only 23 have been filled, he added.

A local, Nawaz Khan, criticised the government for its inaction in resolving problems of the college student. He suggested that a piece of land measuring 98 kenals of Hazara Doors, a property of forest department, has been lying unused for the last several years where the government can construct a fully-equipped college.

When contacted, College Principal Prof Naseem Murtaza was on leave, however, her assistant, Muhammad Imtiaz, said the provincial government had approved funds for construction of some additional rooms but the shortage persists.

Moreover, he said that for accommodating the girls in the building of a newly-constructed building of Government High School for Boys, negotiations with officials of Elementary and Secondary Education department are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2012.