BKU grew rapidly despite remoteness, insecurity

 Morale of staff, students remains high even after tragedy

PALOSA: The dense fog, severe cold wave and the security threats failed to deter the teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the male and female students from attending the Bacha Khan University that was reopened for official activities and renovation work on Monday only four days after the terrorist attack that killed 21 people including students, a teacher and other employees. 

Formal classes would, however, be resumed once the repair work is done and the cold wave and the fog subsides, vice-chancellor of the university Dr Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat told The News.

Quran Khwani for the departed souls of the martyred students, faculty and other employees and prayers for early recovery of the injured were arranged in the university campus on Monday. It was followed by a marathon meeting of the staff members chaired by the vice-chancellor in which the overall situation was discussed. 

The morale of the faculty members and the students was high. The were committed to promote and get education and reject the terrorist mindset. “The terrorists would do their work and we would do our job. They are shedding the blood of innocent people. But we would continue to educate the people and develop the society,” said one of the teachers.

Dr Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat said they were ready to resume academic activities alongside the official engagements. “Owing to the cold and unprecedented fog we decided to delay the classes for a few more days. Also, we wanted to repair and renovate the damaged parts of the university building so that its psychological impact could be done away with,” he said.

The Bacha Khan University is situated in a remote village, Palosa, in the Charsadda district. None of the main road passes by the university campus. The nearest highway to the university is the Motorway located at a distance of at least seven kilometers. The Mardan-Charsadda Road is sited about eight kilometers away from the university and the main Charsadda town is over 10 kilometers. The only public transport that uses the university road from Nisata near the Motorway and Sardheri on the Mardan Road is the Qingqi rickshaw.

Most of the students and staff members use the university’s own pick and drop service, which has been badly affected by the foggy conditions. According to the vice-chancellor, the university provides pick and drop service to Nowshera, Peshawar, Mardan and many villages of Charsadda district.

Located on a spacious piece of over 200-kanal land, the university first started functioning as a sub-campus of the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan in August 2010 at the defunct building of Government Polytechnic College.

Later, in July 2012 the campus was upgraded as full-fledged university and was named after Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), the renowned Pakhtun nationalist leader and freedom-fighter known for his strong belief in non-violence.

Started with just four departments, the university has now grown rapidly andn now education is imparted in 17 disciplines. It has 3,000 students including around 500 females.

“A total of 550 teaching and non-teaching staff has been hired. Some 45 among them are PhD degree holders,” Dr Fazal-ur-Rahim said. With Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Study Centre being one of its special units,, the university aims to develop further both in terms of infrastructure and academics.

There are, however, certain serious problems that need immediate attention of the government. Security is no doubt the most serious problem faced by the university.

The university administration has taken steps to tighten the security. The front side of the university has been better secured, but security problems persist on the other sides, mostly those close to the village.

All the roads leading to the university are in a dilapidated condition. The sugarcane fields on both sides of the route and all around the university is another big issue as far as the security situation is concerned. Another serious problem faced by the university administration is the unscheduled loadshedding. The university is situated in the rural area where power remains suspended for more time compared to urban areas.

“I know we face an overall shortage of electricity across the country, but here in the university we have electricity for only six hours and the remaining 18 hours we have to rely on generators. This become too costly for the university to afford,” the vice-chancellor said.

He informed that the university has two hostels for boys and one each for girls and staff members. Some 500 students are boarding in the boys’ hostels, 80 in the girls’ hostel and several staff members in the staff hostel. “The university requires uninterrupted electricity supply round the clock,” he added. 

About the location of the university, there were reservations among the local people in the area. A local resident, wishing not to be named, told this reporter that the land where the university has been established was owned by a prominent political figure of the district Major ® Mukhtar Ahmad Khan. The land was not only away from the main town and roads, but was also affected by water-logging.

The owner used his political influence to sell the land to the government on high price for establishment of Commerce College and a Polytechnic institute in the 1990s. Both of the institutions could not run successfully due to the accessibility issue. However, after the establishment of the university, local transport service was started to the area and the university introduced its own pick and drop service to overcome the issue of accessibility to a great extent.