2,299 BZU students get laptops

Those who did not get laptops protested against university ‘for bias’.

MULTAN:

As many as 2,299 laptops were distributed among students at the Bahauddin Zakariya University on Friday.

The ceremony was chaired by Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Khan and Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

During the speeches, some students who did not receive laptops and internship letters protested against the Punjab government.

They also raised slogans against the university for ignoring them. These included students from gender studies, commerce, chemistry, pharmacy and distant learning programs.

They said they had been staging peaceful protests for a week, but the university administration had ignored them.

They alleged that the administration had added the names of some students who had already received laptops in the list of second-phase beneficiaries.

They demanded that the government and the university administration make new lists for the laptop scheme.

The deputy speaker and the education minister assured the protesting students that they would direct the officials concerned to initiate an inquiry into the matter. They also asked BZU Vice Chancellor Dr Syed Khawaja Alqama to have the students’ lists reviewed by a separate committee.

Later, representatives of several students’ groups met the deputy speaker, the education minister and the VC to discuss their concerns.

They were told that students who fulfilled the criteria but had not received a laptop would be given one in 30 days.

University officials said that more than 16,000 students from across the Multan division had attended the ceremony.

Earlier, addressing the students, the deputy speaker said that the PPP would never be able to take over the Punjab.

“They should forget about forming a government in Punjab. Punjab is a province of the brave and the independent who have rejected all forms of slavery including aid and loans.”

The education minister said that the government had allocated Rs210 billion for education projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2012.