College privatisation sparks protests

PESHAWAR:

A large number of professors and lecturers staged a protest demonstration against the privatization of colleges in the province outside provincial assembly building in Peshawar on Thursday.

They blocked the Assembly Chowk for all kinds of traffic and severally tortured a bike rider when he tried to pass through the demonstration. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Professors and Lecturers Association has warned the government of closing all the colleges across the province and said that the boycott of the classes will continue if the decision to priviatise the colleges was not withdrawn.

A protest rally was brought out from Government College Chowk which ended at the Assembly Chowk outside the assembly building. It was attended by male and female teachers from government colleges. The rally was led by the association president Jamshed Khan. The participant staged a sit at the square and chanted anti-government slogans. Addressing the sit-in the president Jamshed Khan said that the privatization of Jehanzaib College Swat and interference in the colleges under the Higher Education Commission were not acceptable and announced that a boycott will continue till all their demands are met.

“The privatization of Jehanzaib College is not acceptable. It would lead to the privatization of other colleges in the province and this would not be tolerated at any case,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2021.