Inflation pushed UAF into increasing fees: VC

Prof Khan says agitating students need to be counseled

FAISALABAD:

The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that recent wave of inflation had constrained the UAF to increase its fees. However, some part of increment would be reimbursed after improvement in financial health of the country.

Addressing a “Gur Mela” organised by the Directorate of Farms, UAF, on Monday, he said that some students were protesting against the hike in university fees.

"These are our students who need to be counseled so that they could ensure a bright future," he said, adding that due to effective counseling made by the teaching community, 100 percent of students had submitted their fees.

He also thanked the parents who understood the economic situation and deposited the fees. He said that peaceful protest within the limit of law was a fundamental right of every citizen, but if the protestors transgressed the limits, action became inevitable.

He said that the CPO of Faisalabad, in order to ensure peace and best educational and research atmosphere at the UAF, had recommended formation of a committee to negotiate with the protestors. Therefore, negotiations would be held within the next couple of days.

He said that the university had not increased fees for the last three years due to which the financial burden on the institution was continuously increasing. The UAF was still charging lower fees from its students than the fees of other public sector universities of the city.

He said that festivals played an important role in exposing eastern traditions and rural culture.

Being the first agricultural institute of the subcontinent, the UAF was the custodian of rural culture, and it had been regularly arranging festivals as the nations who kept their generations connected with their glorious past and traditions set new heights of development with their unique identity in the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2023.