RAWALPINDI, April 24: Information minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Thursday underlined the need for a uniform education system in the country.

Speaking at the first convocation of the Government College for Women at Dhoke Hassu, he said: “The two mediums, Urdu and English, are producing two different types of people. Their capabilities are different and they cannot compete with each other.”

The minister said the jobs of contractual lecturers would be confirmed and new staff recruited to remove shortage of teachers in the college.

Two new universities, he said, would be established, one each in Peshawar and Quetta.

Mr Rashid said there were some problems in acquiring land for the degree college at Janda Chichi, but now the issue had been resolved. He said he had asked education minister Zubaida Jalal to provide some aid to the educational institutions in Rawalpindi, and she agreed to do so.

He expressed dismay at the declining standard of education among boys, but said he was satisfied with the growing enthusiasm among the girls for literacy. He announced a Rs0.1 million fund for the Dhoke Hassu College.

The college principal, Nighat Akmal, in her welcome speech, highlighted some of the problems, including shortage of lecturers, being faced by the college. She said about eight teachers had been working on contract for the last five years.

Apart from the teaching staff, the college is also facing shortage of administrative staff, she said.

The existing number of classrooms, she said, was not enough to accommodate the growing number of students. Unavailability of water is another major problem being faced by the students, she added.

In the end, gold medals and prizes were distributed among the students who achieved distinction.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters at the college, minister said the war on Iraq had not affected the US-Pakistan relations. He said relief goods would be sent to the war-ravaged country.

Answering a question, he said Pakistan was a declared atomic power, but it did not have any chemical or biological weapons. The US authorities have been informed about this, he added.