PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed the quarters concerned to perform the handing and taking over of the newly-built buildings of colleges and fulfil all related formalities in order to ensure commencement of classes from September this year in the new colleges.

       He also directed the relevant quarters to expedite work on new and ongoing projects of establishing colleges, according to a statement issued here on Saturday.

       Chairing a meeting of the higher education department at CM House, Peshawar, he said that the provincial government was spending huge resources for improving the quality of higher education and providing environment conducive to learning.

       Special Assistant to CM on Higher Education Kamran Bangash, secretary higher education Daud Khan and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

       During a briefing, the participants were told that a total of 303 colleges, including 126 for girls, were fully functional across the province.

       It was stated that some 67 colleges were under construction, including 29 for female students. The meeting was informed that a total of 42 new colleges, including 12 for the merged districts, had been reflected in the current Annual Development Programme.

       The participants were told that during the last financial year 20 colleges had been completed while 25 more were due for completion.

       The chief minister expressed satisfaction with the progress and directed the authorities to take steps to make the newly-built colleges functional without delay.

       He asked them to arrange teaching staff for the new colleges on temporary basis and take concrete steps for hiring of permanent staff through the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission.

       Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2021