After the disinterest from the academic sector of the Department of College Education, the youth of Karachi have been deprived of graduation programs in colleges for the past 4 years. Due to the negligence and academic issues of the Sindh Department of College Education, thousands of average and poor students who wish to obtain a degree from government colleges after completing their intermediate studies have been denied access to the degree programs, leading them to spend hundreds of thousands of rupees to enroll in private universities or to be deprived of higher education due to lack of funds and stuck at home. However, they are now facing closed doors to graduation. This situation is prevalent in other regions of Sindh as well, and after the previous provincial government of the PPP, the current provincial government has also failed to take any action in this regard.
In October of last year, the Department of College Education in Sindh suddenly thought of starting a 4-year Bachelor’s degree program in government colleges. However, a 9-member committee was formed to review the previously prepared draft policy, but no meeting has been held so far, indicating the seriousness of the department in this matter.
It is important to note that the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan had terminated the 2-year graduation programs such as BA, BSC, and BCom in Sindh and the rest of Pakistan four years ago, and directed the colleges to start a 4-year Bachelor’s degree program, which is still being implemented to this day. The Arts Faculty, Home Economics, and Business Administration programs have been introduced in colleges, but they are not equivalent to graduation, which deters students from enrolling in them. Most students feel that there is no point in studying for two years if they do not receive a graduation degree, and it is better to gain admission to an educational institution where a 4-year graduation degree program is available. A student, Hamad, shared his experience, stating that after completing his intermediate studies, he realized that he could not obtain a graduation degree, and had to go to a university instead, but due to lack of funds, he could not afford the expenses for graduation from the university. Therefore, he enrolled in the associate degree program at a private institution, considering it a waste of time to spend money to go to college and not receive a degree.
It is important to note that currently, out of the 92 government colleges in Karachi, only five are offering a 4-year Bachelor’s degree program, while the rest are not offering any degree programs beyond intermediate studies. The government has allowed the Government Commerce College and Khurshid Girls College, among others, to offer a Bachelor’s program in collaboration with the University of Karachi. However, the other 87 government colleges are not providing degree programs in sciences, arts, humanities, commerce, administration, Islamic learning, or any other discipline.
It is worth mentioning that in order to inquire about the reasons behind the lack of degree programs in government colleges in the Karachi region, Express contacted the Director of Government Colleges, Professor Suleman Sial. When asked about the obstruction in starting degree programs in colleges, he claimed that progress was being made and a meeting was scheduled, but when asked why the Higher Education Commission had stopped it, he did not provide a satisfactory answer.
It should be noted that after a delay of almost four years, the Department of College Education issued a draft policy to start a 4-year Bachelor’s degree program in government colleges on 4th October last year. As a part of implementing this policy, separate notifications were issued on 12th and 13th October, forming a committee of college directors and some principals from all regions of Sindh. However, in these three months, this committee has not held a single meeting. This negligence can be considered as an indication of the seriousness of the Department of College Education in academic matters.
Express reached out to the Secretary of College Education, Sadaf Sheikh, to find out the reason why government colleges have been deprived of degree programs. She stated that they were in a meeting and instructed to contact them in the evening. However, when contacted in the evening, she did not answer the call. In this regard, SMS and voice messages were also sent to her, but there has been no response from the department.
Overall, the inaction of the Department of College Education has left thousands of students in Karachi and Sindh deprived of obtaining a higher education.