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No colleges admission for male students
No college study in sight for male students
| Rawalpindi, Nov 24: A large number of male students, who passed their
matriculation this year but failed to get admission in the city's colleges at
intermediate level, have lost sight of a bright future, thanks to the limited
number of seats in government colleges and high fee structures at private
commercial institutions. |
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A total of 30,194 male students passed the SSC
examination this year conducted by Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate &
Secondary Education but were left with only four government colleges for boys to
try their luck. According to rough estimates, around 2,500 students, who scored
high marks, succeeded in getting admission in these colleges while over 8,000
students met with failure in their efforts.
The data collected from
various sources revealed that last year, some 11,000 students had applied for
admissions in these colleges including Government Asghar Mall College,
Government College Satellite Town, Government Hashmat Ali College and Government
Gordon College. Out of the mentioned number, some 2,000 students had succeeded
in getting admission in these colleges and no one knows about the exact figure
of the remaining students, who either had to get admission in private
institutions or were altogether forced to leave their studies under such
circumstances.
"I washed utensils day and night in other people's houses
to educate my son. He passed his matriculation but failed to get admission in
any of the government colleges," said Khursheed Begum, a mother, long aspiring
to see her son studying in a college. "We cannot afford the high fees of private
colleges due to which my son has to waste his academic year this time. He is now
preparing to improve his division to meet the merit criterion next year," she
said.
The city's population has reached to up to 2.3 million and not a
single boys' college was set up in the last two decades here due to which the
male students have been facing enormous difficulties in getting college
admissions after their matriculation.
Former federal minister Sheikh
Rashid Ahmad, who won six consecutive elections for National Assembly seats from
his constituency in Rawalpindi and liked to be dubbed as the 'Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan of Rawalpindi', put in his best efforts to set up 16 girls' colleges in the
city but astonishingly no boys' college was ever established here during his
tenures as an MNA.
"It seems that the government is least interested in
establishing new public sector educational institutions," said Nazim Islami
Jamiat Talaba (Punjab chapter) Muhammad Zubair Safdar. He demanded of the government to set up more colleges in Rawalpindi and
other cities as well to meet the growing demands of the students, who could not
afford studying at private institutions.
Female students with
comparatively lower marks generally have the option to get admission in
low-reputed colleges to save their academic year but unfortunately, this has not
been the privilege in the case of male students for the last so many years.
A two-year intermediate programme at a government college costs only a
few thousands rupees for the complete programme but the expenditures required to
undertake studies at intermediate level in any of the private institutions
comprise Rs1,000-5,000 per month.
Murtaza Satti, an owner of a local
private academy, said the private sector has been contributing a lot in the
education sector, otherwise, it would have been difficult for hundreds of
thousands of students to enjoy educational facilities. "Private institutions
have a great role in educating a large numbers of students, thus sharing the
government's burden in the education sector," he said.
Former Punjab
chief minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi launched the 'Parha Likha Punjab' project to
enhance enrolment at school level, which was a commendable step due to some of
its unique features. But if schoolchildren fail to get admission in government
colleges, then one seriously ponders over the ultimate gain and result of such
programmes.
The state of higher education learning also speaks volumes
of the plight of male students, who mainly end up relying on a limited number of
postgraduate colleges, as no new university has, so far, been set up for local
students in the Rawalpindi city other than Fatima Jinnah Women University that
offers courses only to the female students.
Your Comments
"Is this true, a student who gives his last year of O level privately (cambridge), suffers at the hands of colleges who reject the admission application. So, will the application be really rejected? (Im considering most of the private college institutions) Additional details: I gave the first year of o level from a private school, and now im planning to give the second year privately. Any answer would be appreciated. "
Name: Shayan
Email: shayanniazi@hotmail.com
City, Country: Pakistan
"i am ibrahim from swat and studying in nine class i want admission"
Name: ibrahim
Email: swat11110@yahoo.com
City, Country: swat, Pakistan
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Private educational institutions overshadow govt model schools
Islamabad: Once the Islamabad model schools and colleges were regarded as
prestigious institutions of the capital but now they have been overshadowed by
the private educational institutions that have taken the city by
storm.
The idea behind setting up of the model schools and colleges was
to provide quality education to the country's young lot along with their
character building, but now these objectives seem like a dream for the area
residents.
Despite the fact that the manpower in government educational
institutions is more qualified and better salaried, their expertise are not
utilised effectively. Thus, children of a particular sector fail to compete with
those of the private sector.
"Till the 1980s, Islamabad model schools
and colleges (both male and female) were the best educational institutions in
the country and the children of ministers and federal secretaries studied there,
but after the introduction of the private education system, these institutions
gradually lost their prestige due to the negligence of the authorities concerned
and the parents had to send their children to private schools," observed
Director Colleges Samina Nadeem.
But now the government is committed to
restore the lost glory and prestige of these institutions, and in this
connection, a monitoring system is being made more effective besides providing
refresher courses to the teachers of the sector, she said.
The World Bank
report on Pakistan's education policy says that Pakistan will have to review
afresh its education policy in which regulatory framework will have to be
prepared for government schools as well as private educational institutions. The
report further said that the per child expense at government schools amounted to
Rs2,000 while in the private schools, it was Rs1,000.
More than 90 per
cent of the children go to government schools and colleges, and their
registration rose by 10 per cent, but their educational quality has not been
improved, the World Bank report said.
"Government schools and colleges
have the best teaching staff and buildings with vast play grounds while most of
the private schools and colleges have low quality teaching staff and are
housed in small buildings but even then, they are producing good
results, which is a matter of concern," remarked Khalid Khan Niazi,
Principal Islamabad Model College for Boys, I-8/3.
"Despite the best and
qualified teaching staff, the students of model schools and colleges,
even in higher classes, are shy to speak English, as there is no such practice
in these institutions," said Hameed Akhtar, father of a Class 10th student.
Though the contribution of the private sector could not be ignored, yet
their "unbridled" operation has made people's lives miserable by charging heavy
fees, Zahoor Khan, a citizen, said. "Private educational institutions in the
absence of any check and balance are fleecing parents by charging huge amounts
one way or the other, such as annual charges, examination fee, annual festival
or sports day charges, etc," he said.
Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan
Bijarani is of the view that the new education policy is being reviewed to make
it result oriented and that Islamabad would be declared a 'Knowledge City' to
restore the lost standard of its educational institutions. He said the teachers
would be given their due prestige and more incentives with training courses
would be provided to them to prepare them for contemporary and future challenges
in the education sector.
Bijarani said there would be an end to the
class-based education now and a uniform policy would be pursued to provide
quality education to all citizens of the country, irrespective of their social
status. The minister said that missing facilities, one of the main factors
behind low quality education, are being provided to make the learning
environment more conducive in these institutions.
The continuous
degradation of public sector educational institutions, particularly in rural
areas, is widening the social gap, said Mukhtar Ahmed, a retired teacher.
There is no other way but to raise the quality of education of
government schools and colleges to cope with the present day challenges, said
Fahim Zia, a student of Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. The News
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