September 27, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 14, 1428

SIALKOT, Sept 26: Educational institutions in Sialkot are facing a number of problems affecting the level of learning and teaching, Dawn has learnt.

Most of the colleges face shortage of facilities like drinking water and classrooms while many teaching posts have been lying vacant there since long.

The students of the Government Post-Graduate College for Women, Daska, are facing hardships as the only electric water-cooler at the college has been lying broken since long, and a water filtration plant, that was installed five months ago, is also out of order.

The Government Post-Graduate College for Women in Sialkot has just one filtration plant to cater to need of over 8,000 students and teachers.

The college has 110 posts of lecturers and professors of different subjects, of which 35 are vacant.

The Government Allama Iqbal College for Women has only 14 teachers for over 4,000 students. Official sources say the post of principal has been vacant for the last three years. There are only 22 sanctioned seats of professors, of which six seats have yet to be filled.

The college also faces the shortage of attendants and other supporting staff, as of 28 sanctioned posts of grade four employees, 24 posts are vacant. This means the college has no watchman, no gardener and no sanitary workers. Heaps of garbage can be seen on the campus. The principal’s office and adjoining classrooms are in a shamble. Now the college management has locked the principal’s office and many classrooms.

The previous Sialkot district government established a hostel in the college at a cost of Rs20 million to provide better residential facilities to students. But the hostel could not attract even a single student to live in it exposing the planning skills of the officials. The Government Boys’ College of Sambrial needs to be shifted to other place. Presently, it is located on a highway, beside a railway track and a canal. Foul-emitting tanneries make it difficult for students to study in classrooms. The Government Commercial College is functioning in the historical Sialkot Fort, which is even smaller than a primary school. Students, their parents and citizens have expressed concern over the situation of colleges and urged Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to look into the matter.