Fee waiver: Implementation of scheme demanded

Students protest ‘criminal neglect’ by their respective universities.

ISLAMABAD:

Students belonging to Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) on Thursday blocked a road leading to the Gilgit-Baltistan House to protest the nonimplementation of a package announced by the former prime minister to waive off fees of students admitted to various public sector universities.

The students, enrolled in various universities of the twin cities, gathered at D-Chowk and marched on the G-B House, where some ministers and chief secretary G-B, Saleem Sajjad Hotiana, held negotiation with them, assuring them that the issue would be taken up with the higher authorities.

The chief secretary told them that he will fight their case at the highest level. “Students are the most precious asset of G-B and we will together find a way out,” he told them.

The students spoke out against the “criminal neglect” by their respective universities, which have yet to implement the waiver package, announced last year by former Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf, to waive off the entire admission fee of students belonging to Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), G-B and Balochistan.

The notification regarding the fee waiver is, however, ambiguous whether the facility is available to only those students who are admitted to universities in their respective areas or it also covers the financial expenses of those who are enrolled in institutions across Pakistan.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC), however, maintains that the incentive is available to only those students who are admitted to universities in their respective areas.

HEC Spokesperson Murtaza Noor said that the scheme was only for those students who were admitted to institutions in their respective areas and those who carry on their studies outside their areas were not covered under the scheme.

On the other hand, the protesting students claimed that the prime minister’s secretariat issued a revised notification, which also covered those universities which are outside their respective areas.

More than 300 students raised slogans against the G-B chief minister, accusing him of not taking up the case with the authorities concerned.

They said that they were still deprived of the special package while students from Fata and Balochistan were availing the wavier.

“Our education secretary sent a clerk to attend a meeting at the HEC to discuss the scheme, but the HEC officials refused to accommodate him,” Khalid Rahim Khan, a student of the Islamic International University, belonging to G-B, claimed.

Another student, Wasim Badami, said that they will continue their protest till the implementation of fee waiver scheme.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2013.