Islamabad: At the start of the new academic session, students of government colleges in Islamabad Capital Territory are once again grappling with acute accommodation problems in the most expensive capital city.
The absence of on-campus hostels has left many young learners from far-flung areas with no choice but to rent costly private rooms or live in substandard private hostels.
The city’s two largest institutions, including Islamabad Model College for Boys H-9 and Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8, once had functional hostels on their premises, providing affordable accommodation to enrolled students.
However, today both the facilities are largely occupied by outsiders, leaving hundreds of deserving students deprived of their rightful dormitory space.
The hostel at IMCB H-9 was handed over in 2012 to Pakistan Sweet Homes (PSH), which set up an orphanage there under what teachers describe as an ‘invalid agreement’ with the Federal Directorate of Education.
The building was transferred to PSH with the alleged involvement of officials of the then Capital Administration and Development Division. While PSH has generated billions in charity in the name of orphans, college students remain without hostel accommodation.
Similarly, the hostel at IMPC H-8 was shut down in 2008, initially on the pretext of repairs. Despite repeated requests from the college administration to FDE, the renovation never took place.
Instead, the building was allotted to the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design in 2024, again through the intervention of the education ministry. The structure was eventually renovated but has since remained unused, compounding the students’ frustration.
An FDE official acknowledged that shutting down hostels had disproportionately harmed financially disadvantaged students from remote areas such as Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kasmir regions.
“Closing hostels has benefitted private operators who charge exorbitant rents. Vulnerable students are being pushed into hardship while authorities look the other way,” he said.
A professor at IMPC H-8 said students from remote areas were compelled to live in expensive private hostels or rent small rooms in Rawalpindi and peripheral areas like Chatha Bakhtawar.
“Many students miss classes because of the long travel and the absence of a proper study environment. Their academic performance is badly suffering. Our teachers’ association, which tried to raise the issue, was silenced by warnings not to interfere in administrative matters,” he said.
Ali, a first-year student from Mansehra, said he came to H-9 College because of its good reputation but had to live in a private room in Rawalpindi.
He said the rent was unaffordable and transportation costs caused more burden, so his family was struggling to manage his expenses.
Ismail, a student of IMPC H-8, complained he had been compelled to pay heavy sums for terrible conditions in private hostels.
“The rooms are dirty, the food is unhygienic and washrooms are filthy. There is no learning environment at all,” he said.
The students demand that the government immediately provide hostel facilities within the premises of ICT colleges.
“For disadvantaged youth like me, hostel is not a luxury but a lifeline to continue higher education in Islamabad,” a student said.
Published in The News on September 08, 2025.
