RAWALPINDI, March 15: The recent decision of the Punjab and NWFP governments to make education upto matriculation free has been welcomed by the general public. But, they still think that certain measures need to be adopted to ensure that nobody’s future is put at stake just because of shortage of educational institutions.

Though numerous private institutions have come up over the years, the fee they charge runs into thousands, making it impossible for the common man to get his children enrolled with them.

Such people have no other choice but to get their children admitted to government-run institutions. However, shortage of such institutions has added to the woes of the common man.

This is exactly what the people of Tench Bhatta, Mughalabad, Peshawar Road, Dheri Hasanabad and many other Cantt areas complain about.

Many parents said there were limited number of seats for girls seeking admission to F.G. institutions at graduate and postgraduate level. They said due to this reason, the girls either discontinued their studies or had to take admissions to private institutions that charge exorbitantly.

With the population of the cantonment area increasing, the need for more educational institutions is being felt even more.

As far as federal government educational institutions are concerned, the main colleges for girls are F.G. Postgraduate College for Women, Kashmir Road, and F.G. College for Women, Abid Majeed Road. These two federal government colleges for girls mostly cater to the educational requirements of the Cantt residents.

The college at Kashmir Road is the only postgraduate college that offers masters classes in English and Urdu, whereas the institution at Abid Majeed Road, which is a degree college, does not offer science subjects even at bachelors’ level.

Many parents complained that their daughters, who wanted to study science at bachelors’ level, had only one college to apply to, i.e. the one at Kashmir Road. But, trying to get admission to this college was to attempt the impossible, they added.

They said those who could afford had no problem as they admitted their daughters to private universities, while those who could not do so, had no choice but to make their daughters change their subjects and take up humanities. There were instances when the girls had to give up education as their parents could not afford private universities or send them to colleges located quite far from their residences.

When these complaints were brought before the principal of F.G. Postgraduate College for Women, Kashmir Road, Farida Pervez, she said as far as the number of seats were concerned, it was the Army Education Directorate, which framed the admission policy.

She said at the intermediate level, her college had started evening classes to accommodate as many students as possible. But, the pressure on her college at bachelors’ level was even more.

The reason was because most of the institutions in Cantt like Army Public School and Fauji Foundation had classes till intermediate level. As a result, at bachelor level, her college was the first priority of the parents, she added.

Ms Pervez was of the view that institutions like Army Public School and Fauji Foundation should also start degree-level classes so that the influx of students to her college could be diverted.

When asked as to why her college only offered two masters programmes, she said the main reason was of space. Her college was located in a very congested area, which prevented them from starting more classes. However, she said, in the near future, more master-level classes would be started and for this purpose, the college was planning to acquire the adjacent land.

Ms Pervez said the college had also started computer studies and was offering ICS. She said in this regard, they had got affiliated to the University of the Punjab. In 2004, BCS programme will also be launched.

She said they had no shortage of teachers or the funds. She said apart from the regular staff, they had about 35 ad hoc teachers, and whenever the need was felt, new recruitments were made.

The principal of F.G. College for Women, Abid Majeed Road, Jabeen Masood, on the other hand had nothing to say as, according to her, the policy regarding admissions was formulated by the Army Education Directorate.

Despite contacting several times, the director FGEICG, Brig Abdul Khaliq, was unavailable for comments.