‘Admission denied’: Girl alleges discrimination by GCU

University dismisses the charge, says it has yet to issue a final merit list.

LAHORE: Justice Ijazul Hasan of Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought detailed replies from the Higher Education Department and the Government College University (GCU) by December 10 on a petition filed by a girl who has accused the GCU of discriminating against her and denying her admission because she had refused to remove her veil in front of the interview committee.

Petitioner Mehreen Shafaq filed a petition through Barrister Sajeel Sheharyar who told the court that his client had applied for BSc Applied Management Sciences at GCU and had passed the written test. However, he said, she had been asked to uncover her face for identification purposes during the interview round. Sheharyar said that Management Science Department Director Najaf Yawar and Assistant Professor Amad Uppal, both on the interview committee, had demanded that she uncover her face for the interview. Shafaq then asked the committee if Asma, the coordinator for the committee, could view her face in private because she wasn’t comfortable unveiling her face before them.

The lawyer said that Yawar rejected her plea and said she was ineligible for admission.

He said under the Constitution, everyone had a right to live and dress according to their wishes. He requested the court to direct the GCU administration to admit Shafaq to their programme. He also asked for strict action against the instructors who had discriminated against her. She cannot be denied admission to a college because of the way she dresses, he said.

Responding to the allegation, GCU Registrar Mohammad Akhyar Farrukh told The Express Tribune that Shafaq’s claim was baseless. He said the university did not refuse or accept admissions on the basis of hijab.

“The university has not yet displayed a merit list for its BSc Applied Management programme. How could she say she was denied admission?”

He said the merit was yet to be determined as students were still awaiting their intermediate results. “Merit will be determined after students present their results to the university,” he said.

He said every department in the GCU had a female course coordinator to verify documentation for examinations and interviews.

“It is necessary for students to prove their identity before appearing for interviews.”

Dr Farrukh said according to the Department of Management Studies, Shafaq had refused to identify herself before the female coordinator, who was supposed to verify documents and her identity before interview. “Yet she was still allowed to sit the interview.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2015.