SHANGLA: The government has failed to provide necessary funding to the University of Shangla in the last two years, putting the academic prospects of its students in jeopardy.

The Higher Education Commission has funded the university until June 30, 2024, according to officials.

They told Dawn that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly amended a law in 2022, turning the University of Swat’s Shangla campus into an independent university.

Officials said the government later announced Rs307 million in funds for the university but didn’t release a “single penny.”

They said the university had 775 students, including girls, in four departments, and the children of poor coal miners were among them.

The officials said the university had been operating under the auspices of the University of Swat, with a total of 23 employees, including academic staff, relying on funding from the HEC to deliver their services.

Mohammad Idrees, a student from Alpuri, said he and other students looked to political leadership for help amid the funding crisis.

He said if the university was closed, all political parties would be held responsible.

“The government hasn’t provided our university with funds despite its approval by the assembly in 2022, so it is facing a financial crunch,” he said.

The student warned that he and other students would stage street protests across the district to press authorities for funds.

Nagina Bibi, a student of the English department, said the district didn’t have public or private colleges, so the residents, mostly poverty-hit youth, turned to the University of Shangla for higher education.

She said the university faced closure due to a lack of funds, which threatened the future of students.

Meharban Alam, registrar at the University of Swat’s Shangla campus, told Dawn that his educational institution was a full-fledged university, which was run by the University of Swat due to financial constraints.

“Most of our students belong to poor families of coalminers, so they can’t afford education in private universities,” he said.

When contacted, Rafiullah Khan, public relations officer at the University of Swat, said the University of Shangla was a full-fledged university, and his university just oversaw its academic matters.

He added that the HEC had extended its funding to that university from 2023 to June 2024 due to a financial crisis.

“We hope that the HEC will extend that funding in the next fiscal,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2024