Lack of infrastructure and teachers is a hindrance to four-year programs in colleges, vice-chancellors said

Karachi: Vice chancellors of government universities of Sindh including Karachi termed lack of infrastructure in government colleges of the province and lack of teachers in related subjects and lack of semester system as obstacles in the way of BS four-year program. Sindh has been asked to provide required basic facilities in the colleges before starting the four-year BS program.

An important meeting was held in Sindh HEC on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chairman Sindh HEC Dr. Tariq Rafi, in which the issue of affiliation of four-year BS degree program to government colleges of Sindh including Karachi was considered.

According to the sources, on the proposal of Secretary College Education, it was decided in the meeting that in the context of the current conditions of the colleges, at least one government college from every district of Sindh, including Karachi, should start a BS four-year degree program. Colleges should be selected which are more compatible with the affiliation policy of HEC and universities and better in terms of facilities so that degree programs can be started in these colleges from the new academic session 2025.

An officer of the College Education Department, who participated in the meeting, said that at present two-year associate programs are being run after graduation in government colleges, in which the enrollments are continuously decreasing and now only a few thousand students are enrolled in this program. are

A Vice-Chancellor who participated in the meeting pointed to the main reason for this issue and said that the associate degree has been copied from foreign countries, where the program is run as technical or vocational education, while we have conducted this program in a traditional way. I have started while we are not giving graduation degree to the students.

He said that this program is running on annual exam system instead of semester.

On this occasion, another Vice-Chancellor said that the enrollment in the colleges which have been given the affiliation of BS four-year program is so low that it is difficult to run the program.

The participants were told that there is a severe shortage of teachers in various subjects in the colleges. Even if there is a teacher to start the desired program, he is transferred within a few months, which makes it difficult to run the program and the students’ Results are impactful.

A Vice-Chancellor who participated in the meeting said that the semester system must be introduced in the colleges to run the BS program because the four-year degree cannot be done without the semester system, while the teachers of the colleges have not been trained in it so far nor are they trained in it. are aware of the codes, the college management is only aware of the annual examination system.

On this occasion, the defects of the new affiliation policy issued by the Federal HEC were also discussed and Lyari University Vice Chancellor Dr. Amjad Siraj Memon said that according to the policy, if a college is deaffiliated by the university once. He cannot be re-affiliated which is an unfair practice to the college and the students provided the college fulfills the conditions required for re-affiliation.

He further said that in the new policy, if a college has been affiliated, it is necessary that the university approves it from its syndicate, while the meetings of the syndicate cannot be held for several months.

He said that in such a situation, should that college not start its session and wait for several months for the meeting of the syndicate.

It was decided in the meeting that Sindh HEC will share such points with the federal HEC. It was also said in the meeting that Sindh HEC will issue a proforma to the universities, in which four-year degree programs will be conducted. Colleges, colleges applying for affiliation and their inspection status can be recorded on it and after that this report will be submitted to the Sindh High Court.

It should be noted that Sindh College Education Department has been ordered by Sindh High Court to start BS four-year degree program in its colleges.

“Express” contacted Secretary College Education to find out the department’s stand on what is the main obstacle in the affiliation of the four-year degree program, to which he said, “Lack of communication between the department and the universities has resulted in non-affiliation. The main reason is that the Chairman HEC has agreed on his recommendation that a meeting must be held every month to resolve the issues.

He said that he is thankful to Chairman Sindh HEC and Secretary Universities and Board in this regard that this meeting was held on the recommendation of the department.

Dr. Amjad Siraj Memon, Permanent Vice Chancellor of Jinnah Sindh Medical University and Acting Vice Chancellor of Lyari University, Prof. Dr. Khalid Iraqi, Vice Chancellor of University of Karachi, Dr. Jalbani, Vice Chancellor of Sindh University Jamshoro Dr. Siddique Kalhoro and other general public universities of the province were present in the meeting. Vice-Chancellors, Secretary Universities and Board Noor Samu, Secretary College Education Sadaf Shaikh and Secretary Sindh HEC Moinuddin besides affiliated secretaries of universities participated.