LAHORE: The enrollment campaign in the public colleges of Punjab is underway with principals and teachers complaining about mistreatment by the higher education authorities.

The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has launched an enrollment campaign in all the public graduate/associate colleges of the province to increase the number of admissions to the first year. The principals have been directed to instruct their admission teams to visit nearby public and private schools to promote their colleges and install panaflexes/banners and launch robust social media campaigns to attract students. They have been asked to prepare a detailed report, outlining the steps taken to enhance enrollment in your college. The deputy directors (colleges) have been asked to conduct regular visits to colleges to guarantee a smooth and efficient admission process within their jurisdictions.

The department directed all the principals of the colleges to ensure at least 580 admissions to the first year of the intermediate classes.

The college admission teams are conducting visits to the public and private schools of the province in their areas to increase enrollment in their colleges. The teams are also meeting parents and making announcements through loudspeakers in the mosques. However, the team members are complaining about lack of transport to visit different places to carry out the enrollment campaign.

In Sargodha, a video circulating on social media shows the principals sitting on the floor of a room while an additional secretary of the HED and others are sitting in the chairs during a public meeting.

One of the female principals of a college fainted due to deplorable treatment and she was taken to hospital by the Rescue 1122. The meeting was held at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Sargodha three days ago.

HED Secretary Dr Farrukh Naveed told Dawn that the principals of the colleges are highly respectable to them and the department would look into the matter about any mistreatment and would also take action against the officials involved in improper arrangements for the meeting.

He said the principals would have to form teams of their colleges to conduct enrollment campaigns in their areas, adding that the principals would have to lead the campaigns and provide transport and other facilities to the team members. He said the public colleges had better faculty and infrastructure than private colleges and they would again win the trust of the masses.

The HED claimed to have increased enrollment up to 75pc in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha divisions through the campaign.

HED Additional Secretary Muhammad Azam said the department was fully committed to increase enrollment in the colleges and they were achieving the target with the exceptional support from principals, directors and the directorate of public instruction (colleges).

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2024