ISLAMABAD: A committee of legislators will review the performance of educational institutions run by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).

The committee was formed after the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat took notice of rejected admission applications of first year students by various FDE-run colleges.

The standing committee, chaired by Rana Mohammad Hayat Khan, discussed the admission policy of governmentschools and colleges, and was concerned that the FDE is unable to increase the number of seats according to the population growth in Islamabad, which led to the rejection of most applications.

Khan then formed a subcommittee, headed by Member National Assembly (MNA) Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, to review the FDE`s admission policy and overall performance. The committee will make recommendations to improve the city`s education sector.

`Our committee will make solid recommendations. It`s unfortunate that students are being denied admission to government institutions,` subcommittee member MNA Farhana Qamar said.

Officials and teachers told Dawn that they welcomed the standing committee`s decision to review the FDE`s performance.

They said that although there is no need to establish new institutions since the cityhas several, however the quality of education is not high, which is why parents choose to enroll their children in high quality schools, which leads to overcrowding and admission issues.

`If all the schools receive equal funding and facilities there would be no admissions issues,` Malik Ameer, a teacher, said.

Prior to 2010, there were two types of education systems running under the FDE: model colleges and schools, of which there were 19, and federal government (FG), of which there were 382.

In 2010 the institutions were upgraded, and all 422 were categorised as `model`.

However, the upgrades did not include financial packages to bring former FG institutions on par with the model institutions.

As a result, former FG schools have not improved in quality, causing most parents to send their children to model schools and colleges.`Compared to the `model` setup there are no serious admissions issues in our colleges. But there needs to be an equal distribution of funding for all institutions, and there should be a centralised education policy,` FG College Teachers Association president Sagheer Ahmed Mirani said.

The standing committee also discussed two legislative bills: the Compulsory Blood Test of the Relative of Thalassaemia Patient Act 2014, which was moved by MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechucho, and the Disabled Persons Employment and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill 2014, moved by MNA Tahira Aurangzeb.

The committee recommended that the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division should have both bills vetted by the Law Division and approved by the Cabinet Division so that the committee may pass them.