Failure to act: FATA students blame govt for lack of fee remissions

FSO says govt’s inaction likely to impact opportunities available to displaced students

PESHAWAR: The FATA Students Organization (FSO) has castigated the federal government for failing to provide fee remissions to students from displaced families.

Speaking at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Friday, various office bearers of FSO said further delays and the government’s inaction are likely to impact educational opportunities available to students from the tribal belt.



Shima Nawaz, vice president of FSO’s women’s wing, told journalists that students are being expelled from universities and colleges for not paying their fees. “Unfortunately, human rights organisations have not stood by them,” she said.

Nawaz also pointed out that the government has failed to set up universities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). “The federal government should make an effort to carry forward these plans as the funds have already been allocated,” she added.

FSO President Shaukat Aziz said student hostels in the tribal areas have remained closed for many years and some have also been leased out to NGOs by the political administrations.

He urged the political administrations to allow students to return to hostels and asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Mehtab Abbasi to take practical steps to assist students from the tribal belt.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2015.