Chitral colleges lack hostel facilities

By Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: Lack of hostel facilities in the public sector colleges has forced a good number of students to discontinue their studies, the parents complained.
Talking to this correspondent on Tuesday, they said for the population of about 500,000, there were only four colleges in the district. One of which is situated at Booni (upper Chitral) and the rest is located in the district headquarters.
The parents regretted that the government degree college Booni faced the acute shortage of teaching staff as a result of which the students thronged to the colleges in the Chitral city. The total capacity of the five hostels of the three colleges in the city is said to be about 400 while the strength of the students enrolled in the colleges is about 2,400.
The government started second shifts in two of the colleges last year to ensure the admission of more students but these students could not avail of the hostel facility, they said.
Because of absence of the hostel facility, the students from the distant villages of Chitral preferred to not take admission in the colleges.
As for the female colleges, the situation is more dismal as there is only one public sector college in the district and the total capacity of its hostel is about 50 which is too short to cater to the needs of the whole district.
Many parents from the upper Chitral said that due to the unavailability of hostel facility, they were forced to get the admission of their daughters cancelled and take them back to their villages.
The parents said that although colleges in the private sector offered hostel facilities but a very few parents could afford to bear the high expenses.
According to them, the private colleges’ hostels are overburdened and the boarders are forced to live in congested atmosphere. A boarder of a college hostel said the capacity of his room is four but six students live there as the college administration has to oblige more number of students to save their futures.
Meanwhile, sources in the higher education department said that for the last fifteen years, not a single hostel had been added to the colleges while the number of students had increased manifold.