Urdu university students protest against fee raise. PHOTO: FILE
Students at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology boycotted their classes on Wednesday following a sudden hike in tuition fees.
A change in the fee structure was under discussion between the varsity’s management and student bodies for one week before the latter finally decided to protest against the action.
The road leading to the university was blocked for almost the entire day while the university was completely locked down by the students, who even forced the faculty to vacate the building.
“The new fees are unbearable considering the extra financial burden of living in private hostels and ever rising public transport fares,” said Nadeem Sarwar, a student of electrical engineering.
Initially, the fee was raised by Rs 2,000 per semester but on Monday, Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Zafar announced a one-time waiver of Rs 1,000.
A normal day’s proceedings changed into a tough protest when the heads of various student groups asked their peers to boycott classes, proceed to the main gate, and block the road outside.
Hundreds of students blocked traffic on Khyaban-e-Suhrawardy. The traffic police had to intervene to divert traffic on both sides of the road.
Blaming the administration for creating confusion, computer science student Abubakar Qureshi said the VC did not pinpoint which fee he was waiving. At first, the management said it was the bus fare. Afterwards, they said it was for the tuition fee.
“This confusion created by the management has forced us to take extreme action,” he added.
Requesting anonymity, one of the protesting students said the university admin threatened to give their names to the police who, they said, could take strict measure against them if they do not end the protest.
Later, the Assistant Commissioner Islamabad, along with police official, visited the university to discuss the issue with the senior teachers and additional registrar but the students could not be persuaded to call off the strike.
Additional Registrar Dr Muhammad Naeemullah Bajwa condemned the decision and said the issue had been wrongly politicised.
“The decision to raise the fee by Rs 1,000 after the five years is not an irrational one. Some of the students who had failed in their exams wanted an excuse to damage the university’s reputation,” he added.
“Even HEC allows a raise of 10% annually. Compared to that, which should be a standard, what we asked for is almost equal to nothing. Even then, we tried to negotiate with the bodies,” he said.
Meanwhile, with a decision yet to made, the students scattered peacefully afterwards.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2013.
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