SIALKOT: The 127-year-old Govt Murray College -the alma mater of poets Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmad Faiz -has been facing an acute shortage of classrooms due to which students and teachers are finding it difficult to continue education.

Principal Prof Javald Akhtar Billah told Dawn there was a dire need to establish 56 classrooms in the college to cater to the growing number of students. He said the college had been constructed on three acres in 1889 with only 500 students, while now the number of students had reached 6,000. The college had been established as the Scotch Mission College by Scottish missionaries.

Prof Billah further said the college management had urged the Punjab government to provide suitable land to extend the college and establish a new campus on the outskirts of the city. This wasrequested keeping in view the increasing number of students here.

The principal claimed the Punjab government was making sincere efforts to make the college a `centre of excellence`, adding it would soon be granted degree awarding status.

He said 200 acres of state land were lying unattended along the Sialkot-Eimanabad road and 500 more acres existed near Sambrial out of which the provincial government could easily allocate some portion to the college for extension.

He further said Provincial High Education Secretary Irfan Ali had recently visited the college and listened to their problems. The secretary had assured the management of making all-out efforts to provide the required land to ensure early extension of the college. He also pledged to make the college a `centre of excellence` besides ensuring easy access of quality higher education to locals.