High fees at ICT public colleges perturb students

Islamabad : The high tuition fees of Associate Diploma Programme (ADP) and BS programmes at Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) public sector colleges in comparison to the provincial institutions is the main cause of the switching of students from Islamabad to provinces leaving very few admissions at ICT colleges.

According to official sources, students at ICT colleges are charged a fee of around Rs25,000 in the first semester while around Rs15,000 in the subsequent semesters.

Comparatively the fee structure of public colleges ranges from Rs5000 to Rs10,000 per semester in provinces which is much lower than the ICT colleges.

Many students who aspire to take admission to the ADP or BS programmes prefer to go to the colleges situated in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Nazir Ahmed lecturer at Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 college said, Higher fees mean that study in Islamabad is limited to those students that can afford to pay for ADP/BS programmes.

It also increases the risk of students dropping out of ICT Colleges.

Unfortunately, the criteria to educate students are based on wealth rather than talent.

These colleges should focus on nurturing the best brains even if they can't afford to pay high fees.

"High fees seem to have compelled the student to migrate from Islamabad to Rawalpindi resulting in low enrolment and dropouts from ICT institutions", he said.

Kamran, a BS student of Asghar Mall College Rawalpindi said, I am residing at G-9 sector in Islamabad.

My parent could not afford my studies at Islamabad colleges due to the high tuition fee so I got admission to Rawalpindi.

Hamza a student who left H-8 College Islamabad in his 3rd semester said, The cost of education was high and my parents found it extremely difficult to cope with my educational expenses so I left the college.

"There is no policy of the authorities at the helm of affairs to help prevent poor students from dropping out of higher education , he observed.

Mehreen, a student in BS 2nd semester claimed that her parents could not afford to pay her high fees but she forced her parents to continue in the same college as she could not go away from home to study in other institutions with less fee.

Anum Kaleem a lecturer at Islamabad Model College for Girls (Postgraduate) F-7/2 said, “Many college students worry they won’t have enough money to pay semester fees.”

“Authorities at the Federal Directorate of Education should lower the fee of ADP/BS programme of ICT colleges and bring fee structure at par with provincial colleges in order to attract students and help bring them back into ICT colleges", she stressed.