PHC regrets declining educational standards at Edwardes College.

PESHAWAR -- Regretting the 'declining' educational standards at the Edwardes College, Peshawar, the Peshawar High Court has directed the government to take corrective measures to restore the glory of the province's oldest college.

'The authorities at the helm of affairs are directed to seriously look into the matter and make strenuous efforts to restore the trust of students and their parents and revive the past glory of the oldest college of the province,' a bench observed in the detailed verdict of the case regarding the status of the college.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Ahmad Ali declared that the Edwardes College was nationalised through the Privately Managed School and Colleges (Taking Over) Regulation, 1972, which was endorsed by parliament through the 1973 Constitution.

The bench had pronounced a short order on the two petitions on Oct 1 dismissing a petition filed by Peshawar Diocese Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz Peter and accepting another filed by the college's faculty members over its administrative status.

Asks govt to take steps to restore college's glory

Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz had requested the court to declare the college set up in 1900 a private educational institution in light of an earlier court judgment delivered in 2016 and to stop the government from interfering in its affairs.

The college's faculty members, including vice principal Shakil Ahmad Nisar, had challenged the stand of the bishop saying all privately-managed schools and colleges were taken over by the government in 1972.

They had requested the court to declare the college an autonomous institution governed by the board of governors (BoG) notified in 1974.

The provincial governor had headed the BoG until Mar this year when the Diocese committee abolished it and formed a new board headed by the bishop.

The bench observed that the Edwardes College stood out as the oldest educational institution of the province and remained the cradle of knowledge and learning for over a century having produced generations of luminaries who had served the country at the highest and important posts.

It added that students used to be vying eagerly to get admission in this college due to its highest standard and merit but suddenly, things had come...

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