Seven new colleges to be opened in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi: Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has allocated Rs900 million to the city district government for opening seven educational institutions in Rawalpindi and its surrounding areas.

Director of Education (Colleges), Rawalpindi Division, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf said that the Punjab chief minister has already released the amount allocated to the Punjab Education Department for opening seven educational institutions in Rawalpindi city and its adjacent areas.

The previous government had opened number of schools and colleges for girls in Rawalpindi, however, no attention paid on boys' institutions, which were otherwise necessary, stated Dr. Ashraf.

However, under the directions of the chief minister, both opposition leader in National Assembly Ch. Nisar Ali Khan and MNA Hanif Abbasi are working on boys colleges. Out of the total seven new colleges, four would be for boys and three for girls. All the seven institutions would be degree colleges, he said.

The new degree colleges for boys will be opened in Rehmatabad, Dhoke Syedan, Chakri, Chak Beli Khan, Murree etc. The girls' degree colleges have been completed in Rehmatabad, Dhoke Syedan and Chak Beli Khan. While construction work on boys colleges in these areas has been initiated and will be completed in 12 to 18 months, he said.

The education director admitted that due to meagre number of boys' colleges in Rawalpindi, the students passing Matric could not get admission and approach the private colleges. At present only four boys colleges are functioning in Rawalpindi including Asghar Mall Post Graduate College, Satellite Town Degree College, Hashmat Ali Degree College and Gordon College.

The last boys' college opened in Rawalpindi some 40 years ago was Satellite Town Degree College. After that no concerned authority paid attention to promote boys education at higher level, said Dr. Ashraf.

Besides opening of new boys and girls' colleges, the Punjab government has allocated special grants to Satellite Town Women College, Viqar un Nisa College, Girls College in Muslim Town.

Apart from this a new building of Hashmat Ali Degree College is being constructed to accommodate more and more students. With the completion of these projects, the admission problem in colleges would be resolved by 80 per cent, he claimed.

When contacted, MNA Hanif Abbasi said that in his constituency, NA-56 Rehmatabad, one college each for boys and girls would be opened. The opening of boys' college in this locality was necessary. The news