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Bahria College forcing students to buy old laptops
Islamabad, Feb 16, 2008: Import of 4,500 laptops worth hundreds of millions of rupees by
Bahria College for sale to students backfired but the institution has made it
mandatory for all new admission seekers to buy these machines.
The Rector
of the University, Vice Admiral (Retd) Farooq Rashid, though denied that the
deal involved any kickbacks, admitted that the 4,500 Acer laptops purchased in
2006 for the students have been sold as a pre-condition to those who have got
admission in certain disciplines during 2007 and 2008.
A large number of
students were reluctant to buy these laptops as they already had their own but
still they were made to buy these "obsolete" machines to qualify for admission
in Bahria College, which is an offshoot of Pakistan Navy. The prices of these
machines were also charged quite high as against their actual market
value.
While the sources claim that almost 1,500 machines are still
unsold and would be provided to the next batch of admission seekers, the Rector
said that he was thinking of abandoning the said condition of mandatory purchase
of laptop for the future newcomers.
While many within the Bahria College
question the justification for buying through bank loan the huge bulk of 4,500
laptops in one go in 2006 and smell a rat in the whole deal, the Rector
categorically said, "There is just no possibility of any kickbacks in the whole
deal."
For the attitude building of the students and to encourage the
modern day compatibility through e-education and e-sourcing, the Rector said
they had decided to import the laptops for every student of the college.
However, the things did not go as per calculation of the college, which has two
branches ñ one each in Islamabad and Karachi. The vast majority of the students
already enrolled in 2006 did not show much interest in these machines. This
situation forced the college management to change the admission rules, thus,
making it mandatory for the new entrants to buy these laptops no matter if they
already had such machines.
Pro Rector of the college Rear Admiral (Retd)
Shahid Latif, when contacted, conceded that there had been a miscalculation on
the part of the college management to import such a huge bulk of laptops. He
said unfortunately the laptops could not be disposed of as was initially
envisaged because of which the college had to resort to attaching the laptop as
a pre-condition for the fresh admissions in 2007 and 2008. Admiral Shahid, who
joined the college recently and was not part of the 2006 management which
imported these machines, expected that the remaining bulk of laptops would be
cleared.
According to college sources, a Hassan Waqar Rana, who was
initially inducted as advisor to Rector, was the man who had come up with the
idea of importing 4,500 Acer laptops for the students. Hassan was later
appointed as Dean of Management Sciences but without submitting his education
degrees including that of the doctorate, which was a pre-requisite for such an
appointment.
The sources said that the Pro Rector soon after his
appointment asked Mr Hasan to submit his qualification certificates and degrees.
Recently when the Dean Management was reportedly in the UK on leave, he was
contacted there and told to bring his degrees but it never
happened.
Rector Bahria college said that the Dean had left the college.
He admitted that Mr Hassan never submitted his academic degrees with the college
but argued that he was holding additional charge of Dean whereas his actual
appointment was that of an advisor. Advisors, he explained, are not required to
submit such documents. However, interesting as against the claim of the Rector
the prospectus of the college shows Hassan as Dean as well as an Advisor and not
as the "Acting Dean".
While some of the parents have reportedly also
written to the high command of Pakistan Navy about the laptop issue, the Rector
told this correspondent that he would be ready for any probe into the
matter.
Meanwhile, a member of the college faculty said on
condition of anonymity that the laptop deal had ended up in deteriorating the
educational standard of the institution. He argued that not only the entry exam
was lightened but admissions beyond capacity were given in certain disciplines
so that more and more laptops could be sold out.
The Rector acknowledged
that the number of students had doubled from what they were two years back but
justified that it primarily happened because of the commencement of the evening
classes. The Rector explained that the Bahria College was a non-profitable
organisation. He added that whatever it earned was spent on the students. The News
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