Legislation to shut down illegal campuses soon, says minister

LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood has promised legislation to close down illegal campuses in Punjab and announced that neither government dignitaries nor Punjab ministers would chair functions and convocations of any illegal campus in future.

Talking to reporters after the inauguration of the Science Conference at Kinnaird College (KC) for Women on Friday, he said an accreditation committee had been assigned the task of forming a strategy for the regulation of private campuses. “The task force will review buildings, infrastructure, fees, courses and faculties and suggest appropriate action,” he added.

He said no private university could establish off-province campuses after acquiring a charter from another province. This law also applied to educational institutions claiming affiliation with foreign universities and all such institutions would have to come though a “filtration process” now, he added.

However, he said, private campuses providing quality education would be encouraged and universities have acquired charter from the province would also be monitored.

He said the Education Department was preparing a report on the results and expenditure of all educational institutions, starting with private institutions. This would enable the department to assess the performance of institutions before taking action against them, he said. A survey was being carried out with the help of private companies as well as the Institute of Education and Research. Referring to the rapid growth of IT institutions, he said new laws would apply to every institution. “A timeframe for the regulation has not been given because the department does not want to act in haste,” he said, adding chances of public outcry and litigation had to be given consideration. He said the Punjab government would promote private institutions after closing down inefficient ones. Elaborating the restoration of the no fail, no pass system in government schools, he said continuous assessment would stay for class 1 to 3 while annual examinations would be held for class 4 onwards as before. An inquiry into the allegation of changes in top positions for intermediate examinations had also been ordered. He said the GCU would increase its intermediate seats by 10 percent next year. —Staff Report

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