SIALKOT: The 127-year-old Govt Murray College -- the alma mater of poets Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmad Faiz -- has been facing an acute shortage of classrooms due to which students and teachers are finding it difficult to continue education.

Principal Prof Javaid Akhtar Billah told Dawn there was a dire need to establish 56 classrooms in the college to cater to the growing number of students. He said the college had been constructed on three acres in 1889 with only 500 students, while now the number of students had reached 6,000. The college had been established as the Scotch Mission College by Scottish missionaries.

Prof Billah further said the college management had urged the Punjab government to provide suitable land to extend the college and establish a new campus on the outskirts of the city. This was requested keeping in view the increasing number of students here.

The principal claimed the Punjab government was making sincere efforts to make the college a “centre of excellence”, adding it would soon be granted degree awarding status.

He said 200 acres of state land were lying unattended along the Sialkot-Eimanabad road and 500 more acres existed near Sambrial out of which the provincial government could easily allocate some portion to the college for extension.

He further said Provincial High Education Secretary Irfan Ali had recently visited the college and listened to their problems. The secretary had assured the management of making all-out efforts to provide the required land to ensure early extension of the college. He also pledged to make the college a “centre of excellence” besides ensuring easy access of quality higher education to locals.

Published in Dawn October 11th, 2016

Opinion

Editorial

Solidarity with Palestine
Updated 29 Nov, 2024

Solidarity with Palestine

The wretched of the earth see in the Palestinian struggle against Israel a mirror of themselves.
Little relief for public
29 Nov, 2024

Little relief for public

INFLATION, the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period of time, has receded...
Right to education
29 Nov, 2024

Right to education

IT is troubling to learn that over 16,500 students of the University of Karachi (KU) have defaulted on fee payments...
A hasty retreat
Updated 28 Nov, 2024

A hasty retreat

Govt should not extend its campaign of violence against PTI and its leaders, thinking it now has the upper hand. Enough is enough.
Lebanon truce
28 Nov, 2024

Lebanon truce

WILL it hold? That is the question many in the Middle East and beyond will be asking after a 60-day ceasefire ...
MDR anomaly removed
28 Nov, 2024

MDR anomaly removed

THE State Bank’s decision to remove its minimum deposit rate requirement for conventional banks on deposits from...