All Government Colleges Now Offer BS Programs
In all public colleges, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Department eliminated the two-year associate degree program and introduced Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees as of the current academic year.
In accordance with a circular issued on October 12, the department has ordered the administration of the institutions to stop accepting applications for the associate degree program and begin accepting students for the four-year bachelor’s program in the following admission session.
Experts claim that this bold move intends to give students a more in-depth learning experience and integrate the educational system with international norms.
They will be permitted to finish their degrees and continue their education. The provincial education department has encompassed all general and business institutions that will admit students for the 4-year degree program.
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Due to the shortage of facilities, faculty, and laboratories in the institutions, the program was twice extended. In addition to this change, college principals have been instructed to contact the relevant directorate to request approval for admitting students.
In response to a question about the need for additional teachers in colleges following the implementation of the BS program, the secretary said that the higher education department had the right to hire teachers as quickly as possible until the Public Service Commission appointed regular professors.
The main reason for taking this decision:
In the province, public universities charge students between Rs30,000 and Rs60,000 for each semester, whilst government colleges only charge Rs6,000 for the course of study, which is a big difference.
Upper Chitral resident Mansoor Ahmed appreciated the higher education department’s move to expand the BS program to colleges in his region.
He claimed that the decision would help those underprivileged students who could not pay the excessive university tuition and had to live away from home in hostels.
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The official claimed that graduates with associate degrees also had difficulty finding employment because they were just referred to as having studied arts or sciences without mentioning the specific disciplines they had studied.
Challenges faced for implementation:
Some of the challenges faced for implementation of this decision include:
- Shortage of faculty
- Inadequate infrastructure
- Absence of required laboratories in these colleges
