Shangla varsity not being de-notified: PTI leader

ALPURI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former minister Shaukat Yousazai said on Tuesday that University of Shangla was not being de-notified.

Talking to The News, the ex-minister said that he had talked to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali, who assured him that the university was not being abolished.Shaukat Yousafzai said that he apprised the governor of the sentiments of people and termed it an injustice with local residents if the plan for the proposed university was reversed.

“Presently over 700 male and female students were studying at the university in four departments,” he added.It may be mentioned that the University of Shangla was approved by the PTI government with the relentless efforts of Shaukat Yousafzai for the high seat of learning.

The University of Shangla was recognized as University in 2021, as a project of the commission on science and technology for sustainable development in the south.Recently, the governor’s inspection team has recommended to the higher education department the de-notification of the Shangla University and its restoration as a campus of the Swat University.

The report read, “During the visit of the governor’s inspection team to the University of Swat, and the University of Shangla on August 23 and 24, 2023, it found multiple challenges faced by both universities. The team raised the question that while approving the university act, the provincial assembly did not allocate any seed money or even token grant for the proposed University of Shangla, so the university project became a non-starter even right from the outset.”It added that due to financial crunch at the provincial government’s level, a PC-I of just Rs398 million was approved, which was not enough for the establishment of even a school.