Colleges built but away from students

PESHAWAR, March 27: Every fourth college in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not enrolled the required number of students as most of these state-run educational institutions have been established by public representatives in `unfeasible` areas just to oblige their voters, sources say. Sources said that about 40 functional colleges, out of 153, didn`t enroll the required number of students, putting huge burden on national kitty without achieving the desired goals. "Most of these colleges have been established in far-flung areas instead of big towns and cities," they said. They said that elected representatives in successive governments were responsible for huge loss to public money spent on construction of colleges in unfeasible areas. "The government is spending around Rs10,000 per month on every student of these colleges," sources said. On the other hand, only Rs1,500 were spent on each student of those colleges, which had sufficient number of students, they added. According to government policy a college for boys should be established in an area where 350 students of the surrounding high and higher secondary schools qualify Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. A college for girls should be set up in an area where 250 girl students have qualified SSC examination, according to the policy. Sources said that number of enrolled students in the colleges, built in unfeasible areas, was less than 200. Construction of a college in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needed Rs150 million to Rs200 million, sources said. They said colleges should be set up on the basis of need. The government should not waste money on construction of unnecessary colleges, they added. On one hand 40 colleges, mostly located in far-off areas, didn`t have enough number of students while on other colleges in big cities were overcrowded, sources said. They added that colleges in Peshawar, Abbottabad, Haripur, Kohat and other big cities were overcrowded and it was difficult for the administration to manage their affairs. Sources said that 10 more colleges were needed only in Peshawar to accommodate the increasing number of students and reduce burden on the existing educational institutions. "The politicians of small towns make all out efforts to construct colleges in their constituencies because it is considered an achievement in such areas and helps increase their voters," they added. On the other hand construction of a college was not priority of the politicians of big cities because it couldn`t attract their voters, sources said. Higher Education Director Ghulam Qasim Marwat, when contacted, said that present government was trying its level best to establish colleges on need basis. "Yes, there is dire need of more colleges in big cities like Peshawar because students across the province are studying here," he said. The private sector was actively involved in promotion of education otherwise it would be a big problem for the government, he said. The ANP-led provincial government was determined to improve quality of education in government colleges, he said. "The government has planned to strengthen the existing colleges by improving quality of education, providing training to teachers and updating laboratories and libraries," he said.