University of Peshawar students vow to continue protest

PESHAWAR: Accusing the administration of University of Peshawar (UoP) of being non-serious in resolving their genuine issues, the protesting students on Thursday vowed to continue their protest till the acceptance of their demands.

Talking to reporters on the third day of the protest, Bilal Khan Bunairee, the Muttahida Talaba Mahaz leader and chairman of Pakhtun Students Federation, said the university administration had made a mockery of education.

He said students wanted solution to the problems at the campus that included hike in fee, dropout procedure, sexual harassment and hostel issues. He alleged that the dropout procedure was used to punish “rogue” students instead of improving educational standards.

Another student leader Abid Yousafzai said that sexual harassment at the campus was as vital an issue as fee hike. He said the administration issued a notification to deceive the students, but the students rejected the notification.

He said the peaceful protest would continue till the university Syndicate decides the 10 percent fee raise issue beside other issues.

The notification issued by the university on Thursday said the proposed withdrawal of 10 percent increase in tuition fee is to be presented before the Syndicate’s meeting next month for sympathetic consideration.

The departmental private fund has already been merged with the admission fee, it said. It added that the cleanliness drive within and around the vicinity of hostels would be ensured and transport facility for day scholar students would be started next week.

It said that special steps were being taken for extending scholarships to the needy students and the provincial and federal governments were being requested in this context. “The university is pursuing a zero tolerance policy on harassment at workplace and that security of the students is to be ensured at all cost,” it added.

The problem of dropout students would be looked into by a committee and dealt with as per rules on compassionate grounds, the statement said, adding, the fee issue of the students of the affected areas of Fata would be immediately taken up with the HEC and appropriate measures in the matter taken accordingly. “Degree issues related to IER will be taken up with the concerned authorities,” it added.

Earlier, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Bibi Jan visited the protest camp to express solidarity with the students.

She assured the students of her support in raising their issues at every forum. However, she advised them not to take a rigid stance on the issues which the government cannot address forthwith.

Speaking on the occasion, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba provincial president Shahkar Aziz thanked the protesting students for raising voice against the government’s anti-education policies.

He vowed that the protest would be extended to other educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if the government failed to show seriousness in making education accessible to all classes of society.

The IJT provincial president said that the protest in the next phase would not be staged at the universities campuses but “its venue would be the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.”