KABUL - Some Wolesi Jirga members on Saturday asked the higher education minister to allow migration of female students from one university to another, but the minister said it would create problems.
Higher Education Minister Farida Momand appeared before the Wolesi Jirga or lower house to brief lawmakers on education related issues and the Kankor (university entry test) exam.
Some girls, after passing the Kankor exam in remote provinces, could not attend universities due to cultural issues or lack of hostel facilities in those universities, said MP Syed Ali Kazami.
He said the Ministry of Higher Education should facilitate these girls in changing their university.
“If the issue of migration of girls from one university to another is not resolved, female students would be unable to take part in the national education process,” another lawmaker from Maidan Wardak province, Ghulam Husain Nasiri, said.
Females could not continue with education if they were not provided with the chance to migrate from one university to another, another lower house member, Abdul Satar Khawasi, said.
However, Farida Momand, the higher education minister, said that 80 percent of female students were trying to get migrated despite signing undertaking during the Kankor exam to carefully select university and faculties of their choice.
She said her ministry’s leadership committee had decided to add extra marks to female students to enable them to reach their desired universities.
If female students were allowed to be transferred from one university to another, it would create imbalance in classrooms as there would be empty classes in some universities and others overloaded, she explained.
In such a scenario, the ministry would loss assistance from the international community because universities having half of its classrooms empty did not receive international aid. (Pajhwok)