ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: The government is considering increasing the seats for students in the colleges of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Federal Education Minister Zobaida Jalal said here on Friday.

“Since I can feel the gravity of the situation, a proposal is on the cards either to establish new colleges in the ICT or to increase the number of seats in the existing colleges,” the minister said in a statement.

The government, she said, was committed to making education accessible to all as it was the birth right of every citizen.

Owing to high merit and less number of seats, many deserving candidates were denied admission to colleges of the ICT this year, she conceded.

The government, Ms Jalal said, had laid down the policy of merit, which would be upheld at all cost and nobody, no matter resourceful, would be given admission to the institutions if they failed to fulfil the criteria.

Meanwhile, Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan H.E. Kemal Gurr called on the education minister at her residence. He told the minister that his government was keen to introduce teachers, students training and exchange programmes, which would be helpful to both the countries and enhance cooperation in the education sector.

In addition to this, cultural and education exchange programmes can also be started.

The ambassador told the minister that Turkey was willing to offer a number of scholarships in different fields for higher studies to the Pakistani students through the Ministry of Education.

He also discussed the adoption of F.G. Girls Middle School, F-7/1, in Islamabad by an NGO working with the Turkish embassy. The NGO will build two additional classrooms in the school without having any ownership right.

He said his government was much impressed by the reforms introduced by the education ministry in Pakistan for the betterment of basic educational system.