Chitral — There is no doubt about the fact that Chitral district has a high literacy rate in the province. Unfortunately the education behind the literacy certificates is very poor out here. Many a times a graduate has been witnessed to be unable to write a couple of sentences in English. The handwriting in general has reduced to pitiable scribbling.

In the quest to find the reasons for this sorry state, CN talked to the principal of a reputable private college of Chitral town. Counting different reasons for this degeneration, the principal said institutions enroll students without any test or filtration and then allow them to appear in exams by making false certificates of their attendance in classes.

He said the rule was that a student would not be allowed to sit in exams if he had less than 75 percent attendance of classes in that particular subject. But he said in a sheepish tone that most principals succumb to pressure, some to political pressure, some to social pressure, and allow students to take exams under false attendance certificates. He said the students are further helped in exams cheating with connivance of invigilators and thus we produce ‘educated’ people without education.

The principal however pointed out an exception to such teachers and convincingly named him as Masood Ahmad, Principal of Govt Degree College Chitral, whom he said nobody could coerce or plead to give undue concession to students. He said the said principal withstands all pressures and therefore is not much popular with his students and staff. — CN report, 12 Nov 2016