For the past almost 40 years now, student unions (SUs) have been banned in Pakistan. First banned by Gen Zia ul Haq in 1984, student unions remains a hotly contested topic in the country, with arguments for and against their presence and restoration regularly put forth on different platforms, online and otherwise.

The Students’ Solidarity March, organised by the Progressive Students Collective (PSC), is becoming a regular annual feature, where student activists and members of civil society gather and call out the policymakers. At this year’s march, held last week, the participants included students’ representatives, and members belonging to the People’s Student Federation (PSF), Seraiki Council, Baloch Council and Punjab Council.

Broadly, students demand reduction in fees, and provision of greater security and freedom to students’ representation on campus.

Fee hikes are a continuous source of distress for the student community. In a country of over 220 million, education remains inaccessible to many, because of several socio-economic factors. And, every time the fee is hiked, it reduces the students’ chances of completing their education.

Not too long ago, a well reputed private university in Lahore landed in hot waters for an alleged fee hike of 41 percent. A few months back, postgraduate students from Jamshoro’s Sindh University, protesting a sudden increase in per-semester fee, went on a hunger strike.

“Fee is a concern for every student,” says Shahwaiz Faiz, a pharmacist who recently graduated from a local university. “Fee hike, even a minor one, can affect your budget.

“Life in a hostel is expensive anyway,” she continues, while talking about her days as a boarder. “When your parents are pushed to pay up more, year after year, it soon reaches a breaking-point.”

In response to a query, Faiz says that in her student days, unions were never even mentioned. But she believes that having proper representation could help the students forward their concerns to the authorities.

“Student unions till date are struggling with their heavily politicised image,” avers Sanahil Cheema, a young lawyer based in Islamabad. “Rather than being viewed as institutions, the student unions and the proponents of democratic discourse are vilified and wrongly associated with violence by our lawmakers.

Fee hikes are a continuous source of distress for the student community. In a country of over 220 million, education remains inaccessible to many, because of several socio-economic factors. And, every time the fee is hiked, it reduces the students’ chances of completing their education.

“The Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba [IJT] and Anjuman Talaba-i-Islam [ATI] continue to enjoy their clout in several universities across the country. They are motivated by religio-political ideas that have no care for progressive views. In other words, they aren’t the kind of representation the students need,” Cheema adds.

“Interestingly, radical student outfits were provided support under the Zia regime, in the first place,” she says. “Student leaders were mobilised by political parties where it suited their purposes; but where it was about their rights, the leaders were discredited. Therefore, writing off student unions as troublemakers is unjust. Student unions’ primary purpose is to provide the youth with a platform to discuss and highlight the problems they and their peers face. These [unions] can play an effective role in getting the students’ voice be heard.”

Recalling her time at the university, Cheema says there weren’t any announced fee hikes that could trigger a violent response by the students. However, she agrees that the cost of education has increased manifold over the last few years, and therefore fee must be a matter of serious concern for students and their families.

nflation has rendered quality education a luxury in Pakistan. The marching students expressed this concern by pointing out that education was a right guaranteed under the constitution. They claimed that the student unions could help local youths use their right to express themselves and be heard.

Having studied at the University of the Punjab and Quaid-i-Azam University, Maleeha Sattar, a teaching fellow at the Department of Governance and Global Studies, ITU, recounts the role student bodies played in public universities. “It is not that there were no progressive elements,” she says. “Representatives (of Jamiat) did help control prices at the canteen, but the moral policing they engaged in continues unabated.”

Lastly, it may be recalled that the student unions of yore were patronised by one or the other political parties, often to promote their agendas on campus. When this came to a halt, the unions were disbanded. This meant that even the most legitimate concerns of students were no longer presented. Grassroots democracy too took a hit.

Sattar believes that an organisation needed for student unions to become effective is missing. According to her, the rapid privatisation of education has happened because students are no longer seen as a political force.

Student unions can play a significant role if given a chance to highlight issues faced by the students. However, no one can tell if they can help control the fee hikes while they remain banned.

The writer is a staff member