Call to expand varsities’ enrolment capacity

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Officials and high school graduates on Monday urged the new government, particularly the Ministry of Higher Education, to expand enrolment capacity at public sector universities in order to enable more students to pursue higher studies.

The call was issued at a joint gathering of provincial officials and high school graduates at the Presidential Palace in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province. The 12th graders attended the event after completing a preparation course ahead of the upcoming university entrance test.

Tawhid Social Network head Wahidullah told Pajhwok Afghan News the three-month pre-entry test preparation programme had been divided into two phases. In the first phase, nearly 1749 high school graduates, including girls, took part and 300 of them, including girls, were allowed to attend the course free of cost, he said.

“The preparation programme involves 34 permanent and 15 contract-based teachers and we will try to prepare more students for the entrance test,” he said, saying 10,000 students were expected to attend the second phase.

Deputy Governor Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal told Pajhwok Afghan News many high school students from Nangarhar were often denied the chance to make it to university.

He said the Higher Education Ministry should expand enrolment capacity at universities so that more students could be absorbed.

He said they planned to conduct pre-entry test preparation programmes in various parts of the province in order to enable students to pass the entrance exam.

Shabana, one of the students who attended the preparation programme, said a number of students could not qualify the entrance test because they lacked proper information about the exam.

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