RAWALPINDI: ‘Reputed colleges to be given varsity status’
By Our Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI, March 9: It is the government’s primary responsibility to provide inexpensive education, but the government has its own limitations and the government was rethinking if it could continue to shoulder the responsibility said Punjab Governor Lt-Gen (Rtd) Khalid Maqbool on Saturday.
He was speaking at the second convocation ceremony of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) at Liaquat Memorial Hall where he conferred masters degrees on 467 graduates in various disciplines.
He said, private sector can play a crucial role and share the responsibility with the government. The concern, in this case is whether they can ensure the quality and keep education affordable.
He said public sector colleges of high repute will be granted university status soon. The dilemma we are faced with is whether to build more universities or not as the existing ones are already over burdened and in principle we agree that more varsities need to be set up for promoting research and development. “I fully support a university for Rawalpindi,” he added.
Gen Maqbool said universities should devote themselves to research and development.
The government is planning to give autonomy to major colleges of the province so that they can manage their affairs on their own.
Speaking about the private institutions, he said the government doesn’t want to set up a regulatory body to control private sector institutions, this would result in complains of governmental interference. But, he said, we believe a standard and high quality accreditation system run by professionals would help to a great extent. It would then be a challenge for both private and public sector institutions to meet the requirements for accreditation.
Gen Maqbool, who is the chancellor of FJWU, awarded gold medals and roll of honours to the students bagging top honours in their respective departments.
Those who received gold medals were Ms Irum Gul (Behavioural Sciences); Ms Ayesha Anis (Business Administration); Ms Tania Rafiq (Communication Sciences); Ms Rabia Riaz (Computer Sciences); Ms Asifa Shaheen (Defence and Diplomatic Studies); Ms Misbah Siddique (Economics); Ms Saima Mushtaq (Education); Ms Saim Khan (Public Administration); Ms Nazia Iftikhar (English); Ms Uzma Rubab (Environmental Sciences); Ms Talat Fatima (Fine Arts) and Ms Shahzadi Pakeeza (Islamic Studies)
The ceremony was attended by the students, families, university faculty, members of syndicate and other dignitaries.
Talking to the press , he said provincial government will hire about 20,000 teachers from the entire province to meet the shortage of teachers in schools. Rawalpindi will get 1,500 teachers. Hiring will begin in a couple of months.
He informed that substantial funds have been provided to the district governments to improve the condition of schools. Rawalpindi has received Rs17 million for this purpose.
