SPLA voices concern over use of last year’s admission fee funds

Despite the exemption from admission fee in public colleges announced by the Sindh government, the director of the Sindh Electronic Centralised College Admission Programme (SECCAP) has requested the provincial College Education Department (CED) secretary to use the funds

collected from students during the admission process last year amounting to Rs10 million.

However, the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) has expressed serious concerns over the use of these funds, noting that the funds should be spent on the welfare of college students instead.

The acting director of a provincial inspection body for colleges, Ameer Hussain Qadri, wrote a letter to the SECCAP’s chairman as well as to the CED secretary, stating that amount was available to the SECCAP, which was maintained by Qadri and the SECCAP secretary as drawing and disbursing officers.

It was also stated that the admission process in public colleges was initially proposed to be funded from the amount generated from admission fees last year as it was meant to be utilised for education at and the maintenance of public colleges in Sindh.

“The CED secretary is also the controlling authority of the SECCAP and all related funds, so, after approval, the said amount can be used for the project proposed by SECCAP,” the letter added.

On the other hand, the central president of the SPLA, Ferozuddin Siddiqui, said that the amount was paid by students who had applied for admissions. The SPLA would not allow anyone to misuse these funds, he warned.

“If the college department can generate Rs10 million extra, then there will be no need for further funds for the admission process,” Siddiqui said. Last month, a procedure for granting admission to first-year students for the upcoming session was approved by the CED.

It was decided that the in charge of claim centres, where students go for any corrections in their admission process, will be authorised to deduct Rs10 per claim form. The collected amount would then be used for the centres’ expenses and for paying the remunerations of the staff at these centres.

The remaining amount will be returned to the SECCAP committee in the form of cross cheques or pay orders for the utilisation of printing the claim forms and other expenses during the admission process.