BAHAWALPUR: The Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) has discontinued admissions to about 45 evening degree programmes and courses in the current academic session, causing resentment among hundreds of admission seekers, consisting mostly of those doing jobs.

The evening programmes were launched several years ago to facilitate the students who could not take admissions to the morning classes for various reasons, including age restrictions and jobs. There is a great demand for such programmes among the students and ending them would be tantamount to depriving them of an opportunity to get higher education. In absence of evening programmes, the students would have to go to private institutions by paying exorbitant fee.

IUB Public Relations Officer Shahzad Khalid, while talking to Dawn, said the admissions to the evening classes had not been made in the current academic session because the schedule for admission to such programmes had been changed. Now admissions to eveningprogrammes and courses would be offered in December.

He failed to give a reason for changing the admission schedule only for the evening classes. He said the new admission policy had been regulated in accordance with the semester system and in future the admission process could be undertaken twice a year. He clarified that the total number of such evening courses and programmes was 33 and not 40 with 1,650 seats. He said the programmes, including executive MBA, Public Administration, IT, MPhil and PhD, which had been exclusively going on in the evening, were continuing at the university.

Meanwhile, the IUB, despite the passage of years since its establishment in 1975, is still without the departments of zoology and botany and does not of fer programmes like MSc Zoology and MSc Botany. The students pursuing studies in these subjects have to go to other cities and universities.

The students have urged Governor/Chancellor R afique Rajwana and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to ensure admissions to the evening programmes as well as establishment of the departments of zoology and botany.