PM grants university status to NCA

Islamabad, Acknowledging the services of National College of Arts as a premier institute of arts, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday approved renaming of the college as NCA (Chartered University) and announced regularization of its contractual employees.

The government as per the PPP’s manifesto was regularizing the services of contractual employees in all government departments, the same should be followed in the case of NCA, he directed. The prime minister was presiding over the meeting of the Board of Governors of the National College of Arts here on Monday.

He also directed for the restoration of Special NCA Allowance of Rs5,000 to Rs20,000 for different cadres of faculty members at the college. Gilani approved the provision of Rs10 million as seed money for the establishment of a pension fund at NCA. He also accorded approval for the establishment NCA Endowment Trust Fund.

As a campus of NCA is already operational in Rawalpindi, the prime minister allowed the opening of a campus in Islamabad as well. As regards the revision of NCA Ordinance 1985 after the 18th Amendment, he said the matter would be addressed by enacting a new law through the approval of parliament.

He said the intake of students on provincial quotas reflects NCA’s national character and it is primarily because of this that even after the devolution of the ministry of education, the government has continued to preserve its federal status, which will ensure inter-provincial harmony and integration of the diversified cultures of Pakistan.