October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Oct 25: Parents of candidates seeking admission to medical colleges in the province have criticized the high cost payable under the self-finance scheme and demanded equal education opportunity to the children of the poor.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, many parents said that under the self-finance scheme only the children of well-off families could get admission to medical colleges which, they added, was injustice with poor students.

Under the constitution, they said, it was the responsibility of the government to provide education to all irrespective of their gender and wealth. They said the self-finance scheme was in repugnant to the constitution and should be abolished.

They said Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, despite showing interest in reducing the cost of education under the self-finance scheme, did nothing to decrease the fee during its one year in office.

They said medical colleges in the NWFP were charging more than double tuition fee as compared to medical institutes in other provinces.

They said a student needed Rs1.06 million to pay as fee during the five-year course, and termed it irrational and unjustified.

Sources said medical colleges in the province would earn more than Rs28 million by giving admission to 112 students under the self-finance scheme this year.