The interim election committee consists of 34 students from different years. The committee said that 650 students cast their vote to elect class representatives.
So far, 48 class representatives have been elected at the college, with elections for 8 positions of the Department Head to be held next week. The Council of the Student Guild is proposed to have 8 department heads, 2 hostel heads, a social secretary, a treasurer and a president. Though students fear there will be hurdles as the administration has refused permission to hold elections for the positions of president and secretary.
Acting Principal, Bashir Ahmed said, “The matter is beyond my authority. Unless I am provided with specific guidelines . . . I cannot sanction them.”
He said a letter issued by his office allowed students only to elect class representatives. “As far as I have been informed, student guilds do not conform to the prevailing regulations’, he added.
Ahmed said a student guild had been proposed for the past several years, but suspected the recent protests over contracts of four faculty members from the Departments of Architecture and Fine Arts may be an added factor now.
Huzaifa Ali, a fifth year student from the Department of Architecture who is currently a member of the interim election committee, said that the students needed a body that could convey their concerns to the administration in a ‘disciplined’ and ‘timely fashion’.
‘We have to devise a system to protect the rights of the students for the future’, Ali said.
Students are charged a ‘Student Guild Fund’ of Rs450 every month. A student from the Department of Fine Arts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “The irony is that despite paying a guild fund, we are not allowed to form one.” He added that the fund had been charged for several years and the students were not provided any facility or room against it.
Ahmed said the fund was used to facilitate extra curricular activities. “Perhaps we could revise the name of the fund, but rest assured it is being used for student activities,” he said. He said the students engaged in several activities throughout the year including welcome parties and hosting co-curricular events at the college.
A constitution for the student guild has been written by the interim election committee. The first student guild was formed in NCA in 1971.
However, student unions were banned during General Ziaul Haq’s tenure and the student guild was disbanded. The constitution mirrors the constitution of the prior student guild. It states matters pertaining to the student body, the electoral procedures and the objectives.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
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