Chief Minister KPK directs to conduct review meeting on higher education

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan has stressed the need to reorganize the Higher Education Department (HED) to improve its efficiency and submit suggestions to the concerned authorities.

The Chief Minister further directed the Higher Education Department officials to complete the entire process of appointment to the vacant posts of Vice-Chancellors in the government universities of the province within a month. He was presiding over a review meeting of the higher education department yesterday. Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash, Secretary Higher Education Muhammad Dawood, and other concerned officials attended the meeting.

Also Read: Ghani opposes the idea of closing all educational institutions

The Chief Minister said that all necessary resources were given priority to enhance the agency's capacity and adapt it to the growing testing needs will be provided regularly. He said ETA is a trusted body of the provincial government for testing for faster recruitment in government departments and admissions in educational institutions. The Chief Minister also directed for timely completion of ongoing development schemes under the department, especially for establishing new colleges in the province, expeditious completion, and immediate commencement of work on the colleges that have already become feasible.

It was informed that to ensure better utilization of the facilities and resources available in higher education and give higher education access to a maximum number of students during the academic year 2019-20. More than four thousand students in the selected nine colleges were provided educational opportunities in the second shift. During the academic year 2020-21, 3280, students have attended colleges in the second shift. The meeting was informed that the second shift for 2021-22 is planned to be extended. The second shift will be launched in 19 colleges in 13 districts of the province; 13 are for men and six for women.

Also Read: All Educational Institutes to close from Nov 26 till Jan 11, Shafqat Mahmood

Also, the Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETA) steps are being taken to meet the workforce requirements and increase the agency's overall capacity. It was informed in the meeting that candidates had been interviewed for the post of Vice-Chancellors in eight universities of the province, while the list of eligible candidates for the posts of Vice-Chancellors in four different universities has been submitted to the concerned committee for shortlisting. Similarly, the posts of Vice-Chancellors of three more universities have been advertised recently.