CHAKWAL: Teachers of Government Postgraduate College (GPC) and opposition politicians have rejected a newly-passed bill regarding establishment of the University of Chakwal (UoC).

Under the bill, the GPC and the nearby sub-campus of University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila will be turned into UoC, ending the separate status of the sole postgraduate college of the city.

“We welcome the establishment of a university in Chakwal but it should not be at the cost of GPC which must remain a separate institution which offers affordable higher education to hundreds of students who could not pay hefty fee of any university,” said a statement issued by the college faculty.

It said instead of turning it into a constituent college, the GPC should be made an affiliated college of the newly-approved university.

Punjab Assembly on Dec 30 passed the “University of Chakwal Act 2019”.

Faculty and opposition politicians welcome setting up of new varsity but say Govt Postgraduate College should maintain its independent status

Section three of the act states: “As soon as may be after the commencement of the act, the Government Postgraduate College for Boys Chakwal and Old Kachehri and Balkassar Sub-campus of University of Engineering and Technology Taxila shall by the notification in the official gazette be reconstituted as the University of Chakwal in accordance with the provisions of the act.”

Earlier, the name of the varsity was proposed as “University of North Punjab” but on the objections of the opposition in the assembly, the name was amended to University of Chakwal.

However, former parliamentarians of PML-N and faculty members of GPC rejected the reconstitution of GPC as UoC.

They said due to the reconstitution of GPC, Chakwal would not only lose a historic college but students would also be deprived of affordable higher education.

“We expect Provincial Minister Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz would bring an amendment to the act to ensure the separate status of GPC as an affiliated college of UoC, not as its constituent college,” the stamen added.The faculty also feared about their job as according to the act, they would be on deputation for one year at UoC after which they could join the university as faculty members provided they meet the requirements.

On Wednesday, Punjab Minister for Higher Education and Information Technology Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz and Secretary Higher Education Department Sajid Zaffar Dal at a joint press conference dispelled the reservations and objections raised by opposition politicians and faculty members of GPC.

The secretary said fee of the students would not be increased. “Major advantage of the UoC would be that GPC won’t need any affiliation with a remote university rather it would be a part of UoC,” he said.

The present campus of GPC would be turned into the college of liberal arts and sciences. He also said there would be no effect on the job of college teachers.

The minister said t was his mission to establish a university in Chakwal.

“This is a vital project for Chakwal which should not be made controversial.”

He said the main campus of the university would be established near Thoha Bahadur village where the government owned enough land.

“An amount of Rs350m has been released for the first phase of the establishment of UoC. The first phase would be completed at a cost of Rs1.5b while next year work on the second phase would start,” he said, adding the UoC would be completed at a cost of Rs5bn in three years.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2020