BAHAWALPUR, May 21: The government's failure to keep the affiliation of private sector educational institutions transparent continues to play with the future of younger generation.

The latest case is that of the National Paramedical College, Bahawalpur, where the future of almost 200 students is at stake. The owners of the college, Muhammad Sharif and Shabeer Ahmed, claim that the campus is affiliated with the skill development council (SDC).

The council is stated to be an Islamabad-based NGO set up under the national training board, government of Pakistan. It has nothing to do with the Punjab Medical Faculty (PMF), which is the sole body in the province to grant affiliation to private medical institutions in order to recognize their diplomas.

The certificates issued by the SDC will not be recognized by the Punjab government institutions, which means that the students passing out from the college will be unable to get jobs offered by the government.

An advertisement of the college was published in newspapers by the end of last year after its establishment. The ad introduced the owners as teachers of the Government Paramedical School, Bahawalpur, who were on leave after acquiring an 'NoC' for running the college. Consequently, about 200 youngsters got admission in five courses of dispenser, medical assistant, laboratory technicians, nursing (male and female) and dental technician.

According to the college prospectus, each student is required to pay in advance a total fee of Rs25,600 in first year and Rs20,600 in second year. The duration of dispenser class is one year while other four courses are of two-year duration.

Prof Dr Abdul Rasheed, former head of the department of surgery, Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, has been shown as college principal in the prospectus while the owners claim that they have five doctors on the staff list.

Recently, some students moved the district public safety commission (DPSC) challenging the college's credentials as, according to their complaints, neither classes were being held regularly nor laboratory apparatus for practical training available.

Taking notice of the complaints, DPSC chairman Mashhood Nasir summoned the owners and went through the college's records. Mr Nasir told Dawn that as he was not satisfied with their documents, he had sought opinion from the federal health secretary, Islamabad.

It was learnt that a PMF team had recently visited the college to inspect it following its administration's application for affiliation. In this connection, EDO (health) Dr Arshad Iqbal Dar told this correspondent that the Punjab faculty team, consisting of Dr Fayyaz A Ranjha, Dr Arshad Iqbal Dar, Dr Mannan Babar, and Dr Baqir, inspected the college on May 8 and did not recommend its affiliation with the PMF due to certain shortcomings.

According to the EDO, following are the extracts of the report of the visiting team. "The committee after deliberation and perusal of the available records is of the unanimous opinion that the case of affiliation of the National Paramedical College, Bahawalpur, does not conform to the laid-down criterion of the Punjab medical faculty and, therefore, the application is not recommended."

The EDO said the matter should be taken up with the skill development council, which was reportedly issuing affiliation letters to the technical institutions located in the jurisdiction of the Punjab.