MINGORA: Over 500 girls who seek admission to various BS programmes in the Government Postgraduate Girls College, Saidu Sharif, are likely to be deprived of admissions due to lack of space in the college.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has banned admissions to the BA/BSc classes this year and directed the college administration to start BS programme in eleven disciplines.

However, according to the staff the college is short of space and it can accommodate only three to six disciplines which means over 500 girls will be deprived of higher education.

University of Swat urged to vacate girls college building

The college administration said that one of the college buildings was occupied by the University of Swat and despite several notices to vacate the building no practical step was taken by the university.

“The university administration has occupied our postgraduate block since 2008 and despite several letters to the university and the director higher education the PG block has not been vacated yet,” said a clerk of the girls college.

Similarly, the BSc and Home Economics blocks of the college badly damaged by the 2015 earthquake still await reconstruction.

“So we don’t have enough space to start admissions for all the 11 disciplines in the college and only can start classes in the available space,” said Nargis Ara, principal of the college.

This year the college administration is planning to start BS Islamiat, Urdu, English and expectedly Zoology, Botany and Chemistry programmes. However, parents of those girls who seek admissions in other BS programmes said that depriving girls of education was not just.

“The college administration has told me that they are not starting BS Psychology which means my daughter will be deprived of further education,” said Abdul Manan, a resident of Saidu Sharif.

Many other parents of the girls who were denied admission by the college due to no space said that the KP government’s claims of education emergency were restricted to media advertisements only and it did nothing for girls education in the province practically.

They said that University of Swat must vacate the girls college building so that over 500 girls would not be deprived of education.

KILLED: One person was killed and 20 others were injured in a scuffle between two groups of shopkeepers at Cheena Market in Mingora the other night.

According to police, the clash erupted between two shopkeepers over electricity cable in which knives and batons were used openly.

“One Sadiq Ahmad who was critically wounded in the scuffle succumbed to injuries in the hospital while other injured persons are under treatment in the hospital,” said an official of Mingora police station.

Meanwhile, residents of Shahdara Watkey took to the streets against suspension of water supply and Wapda for observing prolonged power outages. They marched through the Mingora bazaar and chanted slogans against the TMA and Wapda.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2017