Edwardes College BoG approves budget for 2024-25

PESHAWAR: The Board of Governors (BoG) of the historic Edwardes College gave conditional approval to the institution’s budget for the academic year 2024-25 here on Friday, while urging the quarters concerned to resubmit revised budget estimation for review within a fortnight.

The meeting, held at the Governor’s House, was chaired by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who is the chairman of the BoG. The governor took exception to the non-approval of the minutes of a previous meeting of the board by members and chair of the board.

The governor said that all the affairs of the institution and approval of the minutes should be done in line with the law and the policy. There were reports that the minutes of a previous meeting of the board had been tampered and circulated without the approval of the chair so that the promotion of two faculty members could be allegedly done in an illegal manner.

However, the governor, while revoking the minutes, has also resolved the matters that had been given approval allegedly under the carpet.The previous meeting, according to the reports, was strictly limited to budget. But certain other matters, especially the promotion of the two faculty members, were given a mention in the minutes without having been discussed in the board meeting.

The act angered the chairman of the board, who expressed grave concern over the issue, according to an official handout issued after the meeting on Friday.The meeting was given a detailed briefing over the revised estimation and expenditure of the college’s budget for the session 2024-25.

The meeting was also apprised of the details of the college’s income, assets, enrollments, pension fund, endowment fund and other financial matters.The meeting also directed the college administration to compile data pertaining to college graduates, who have joined the superior services, went abroad for higher studies and got admissions in medical and engineering universities.

The finance and planning committee of the college was also asked to come up with a detailed briefing within a fortnight for the next meeting of the board about financial accounts, launch of new disciplines, medical fund, interest-free loans and college’s audit.

The chair directed the quarters concerned to launch scholarship schemes and prioritise students from newly merged districts in the scholarships.The governor also asked the college administration to start new programmes in accordance with the demands of the market, including artificial intelligence.

Faisal Karim Kundi said that Edwardes College Peshawar was one of the historic and best institutions of the province where the downfall in enrollment was a matter of serious concern.He stressed the need for introducing reforms to revive the historic glory of the institution and maintain its quality education in line with the needs of the modern age.