Towards harmony: Academicians unite to end violence on varsity campuses

PHEC chairman proposes abandoning student unions.

LAHORE: The vice chancellor of Punjab University, where the most incidents of violence have been reported, did not attend a conference to eliminate the aggressive behaviour of students.

However, the VCs of 27 varsities were in attendance.

Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Chairman Dr Nizamuddin, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day conference on Promotion of Peace and Tolerance at University Campuses of Punjab, proposed abandoning the concept of student unions. He said they should be replaced with student societies.

The conference was organised by the PHEC Working Group to promote peace and tolerance in society. The moot started by observing a minute’s silence over the lynching of Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan.

Dr Nizamuddin stressed the need for structural changes and improvements on university campuses to promote values of peace, tolerance, harmony and diversity among the university youth “We need to strengthen and encourage the culture of dialogue and critical thinking among students.”

“PHEC Working Group has taken the initiative to gather stakeholders from all public sector universities of Punjab at one place. A number of seminars, literary activities and workshops have been organised in universities of Southern Punjab under the banner of the working group. The PHEC is working arduously to cultivate civic education and positive attitudes among students to make them responsible and tolerant citizens,” he added.

Talking as the keynote speaker, GCU Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Professor Dr Tahir Kamran emphasised that marginalised opinions and groups of society should be included in the mainstream. “Segregation leads to violent thought patterns,” he said Dr Tahir added epistemic violence on campuses should be addressed and tolerance of different opinions must be drilled in. He stressed on changes in the curriculum, revival of student societies and promotion of culture of dialogue at the university-level.

A panel discussion was also held on the first day when renowned experts and academicians shared their views and opinions on violence on university campuses.

The conference will end on Thursday (today) and specialised sessions, involving experts, will forward suggestions to policymakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2017.