Nature lovers: Where the foresters come from

Country’s oldest forestry institute, PFI, continues to lead forest education from the front.

PESHAWAR:

Hundreds of forest officers and conservationists have passed through the halls of Pakistan Forest Institute (PFI) since its inception in 1947. It remains the oldest and most sought-after research institute in the country offering training in scientific management of forests and rangelands, environment protection and wildlife conservation.

Located within the sprawling premises of the University of Peshawar, PFI occupies 240 acres of land comprising lecture halls, offices, residential and non-residential buildings, including forest plants research nurseries, rangeland, a rose garden and medicinal plants research nurseries.

According to the PFI website, the institute was established in Faisalabad immediately after Independence in 1947. The next year, it was shifted to Upper Topa in Murree and then to Abbottabad in 1951 before it permanently settled in Peshawar in 1966.



A long history

Forest education was introduced in the Subcontinent by the British with the establishment of British Imperial Forest College in 1878. Subsequently, Indian Forest College (later renamed Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy) was established in 1938 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

According to PFI Forest Education Division Director Asif Jah, since Indian Forest College was situated near an army academy, its students were also given physical training along with academic training. The practice continues to this day.

Jah said PFI students wake up early and undergo rigorous physical training exercises under the supervision of an instructor. It is also mandatory for them to play sports and exercise in the evening.

“Physical fitness is necessary for everyone, but forestry graduates need it the most because they traverse difficult forested and mountainous terrains. They are the soldiers of forests,” said Jah.

The director further said PFI’s uniform is very similar to the one worn by the army and many people who cannot get into the army join the forest institute to be able to wear the uniform.

The academics

PFI awards bachelors’ and master’s degrees in forestry to candidates who are recruited through all four provincial public service commissions as well as from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and sent to the institute for training. Divisional forest officers (DFO) are recruited in grade 17 and sent to pursue an MSc while rangers are recruited in grade 16 and sent to pursue a BSc degree.



Both programmes are completed in five semesters spanning two years. “BSc students study 40 courses while MSc students study 42. There are no holidays for forestry students as there are in other institutes; they stay in the hostel and only go home on Eid,” said Jah.

For the completion of their degree, a BSc student has to submit a mandatory term paper, while an MSc student has to submit a thesis in the last semester.

According to Jah, in 1993, the institute began offering admissions on a self-finance basis for general students but discontinued it after 10 years. “The major reason for ending the scheme was disciplinary problems. Discipline is PFI’s salient feature but self-finance students could not maintain it like the students recruited through provincial commissions,” said Jah.

Students from Nepal, African countries, Middle East, Bangladesh and several others countries come to PFI on scholarships from UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, USAID and other agencies.

“PFI attempts to provide comprehensive forest education to its trainees and is divided into five major divisions, Forest Research, Forest Products Research, Biological Science Research, Sericulture Research and Forest Education that all students go through,” said Jah.

He added around eight universities across the country have opened forestry departments but were focusing solely on theory and books rather than on-the-field training which is PFI’s main feature.

In the field

Halima Saeed, an MSc student from Charsadda, told The Express Tribune she wanted to join the army but her family didn’t allow it. “So I joined PFI instead where I get to wear the army-like uniform and have adventures in the wild forests.”

Ayesha Nawaz, another trainee who belongs to Lakki Marwat, said she was recruited as DFO from Balochistan Public Service Commission. According to Nawaz, she has an MSc in chemistry from Qauid-e-Azam University Islamabad and is doing a second MSc in forestry from PFI. She said she hoped to utilise her knowledge of chemistry in future in the field.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2015.