Ghazni-based private varsities turn into commercial centres

GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): A number of residents of southern Ghazni province complain private universities there focused more on grabbing money rather than providing students with quality education.

Niamatullah, a resident of Ghazni City, the provincial capital, told Pajhwok Afghan News private universities did not offer proper services despite students paying unreasonably high fees.

“Private universities are created for business; they rob students of money under different pretexts. A student has to pay 5,000 afghanis only in admission fee.”The number of such universities was increasing, but they have no academic excellence, Niamatullah alleged.

Bismillah, another resident of the province, also said that private varsities were turned into business corporations.“I also got admission to a private university, but the quality of education there was really dismal. Now I have decided to appear examsfor a night shift at a government university.”

Private universities prepared a few chapters and sold them for 300 afghanis to each student, he said, adding the universities were using many other ways of fleecing pupils.

Rahmatullah, another dweller of Ghazni, grumbled the degrees issued by private universities were not credible because such institutes were not registered with the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).

He asked the government to take action to reform the private varsities to ensure high standards of education.

But Arif Noori, who recently received his bachelor from a private university,claimed the quality of education at private institutes was higher.

 “Government universities are full of discrimination; we saw students fight over Pashto and Dari languages in Herat University. Teachers there also do not reach classes in time,” he commented.

But a student of Pashto literature at the Ghazni University, Asadullah, said government universities were offering education based on a plan and strategy.“We have problemsin private universities, where lecturers don’t come to classroomsin time and the quality of education is low.”

Asadullah acknowledged most of lecturers at Ghazni University had received master’s degrees and some of them had also doctorates to their credit.

However, Muslim Private University Chancellor Khairuddin Nisarrejected the complaints, “We realize a specific amount of money from students so as to pay salaries of lecturers and rent of university the building.”

He said if anyone had evidence in support of their claim, they could share it with him for legal action. Currently, two government and three private universities are operating in the province.

Around 4,000 students including 500 girls are enrolled in government-run universities, with an equal number studying at private institutes. Students in other provinces also complainof low quality of education offered by private universities.

mds

Views: 8