Demands met?: Pharmacy students at UoS call off strike

Were boycotting classes over lack of NOC from pharmacy council

PESHAWAR: Pharmacy students of University of Swabi (UoS) called off their strike on Thursday after the vice chancellor assured facilities would be provided to their department.

A large number of students boycotted classes for two days against the administration’s failure to obtain an NOC from the pharmacy council. They had forced the pharmacy department to close down and threatened to do the same to the university if their demands were not met within a week.

The decision was announced by Vice Chancellor Dr Noor Jehan who said students decided to call off their protest after they realised they had been misinformed about the university’s attempts to obtain the NOC. Talking to The Express Tribune, she denied that the pharmacy council had not issued the certificate to the department.



“The pharmacy council’s inspection team has visited the department,” the vice chancellor said. “However, they have not replied to our report yet.”

According to Noor Jehan, some officials at the university were creating hurdles in the university’s progress and development. “Rs5 million has been allocated to provide facilities for the pharmacy department and will be provided soon,” she said. “The university was established only recently and it will take some time to fulfil these requirements.”

A day earlier, UoS Pharmacy Chairman Saleemullah Khan had said the pharmacy council had not issued the NOC to the department as it did not meet the criteria.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2015.