RAWALPINDI: Students of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila on Monday held protests against the university’s weak educational policies and lack of facilities, while alleging that the varsity’s administration was “promoting religious extremism” and “supporting extremists”.
In a letter addressed to the Higher Education Commission, the students put down their demands in the form of an 18-point agenda.
According to students, the university administration was fanning religious extremism on campus, while adding that the condition was so bad that some teachers were openly preaching students about their religious sects and leanings. One student said that the matter was of grave concern to them since teachers were doing so during lectures.
Protesting students were also irked by the university policy of issuing show-cause notices to those who were found talking to students of the opposite gender, even though the university promoted co-education. Students also said that they were also not allowed under varsity rules to sit in segregated groups.
Furthermore, students also complained about lack of facilities in both male and female hostels, while protestors also demanded that female students should not be confined to hostel premises after 3:30pm. Other demands made by the protestors included, improvement of food quality and provision of clean drinking water on campus.
Students also demanded improvement in the quality of food and drinking water on campus, which was causing illness among scholars.
In addition, the protestors said that the university had also banned events, including farewells and welcome parties, which went against the principles of all educational institutions. They also said that the university had failed to organise educational tours to local industries in the past two years, which deprived students of gaining valuable insight into different industries working in Pakistan.
Regarding the restrictions imposed on celebrating major events, protesting students said that apart from stopping them from holding formal parties, the university also did not allow them to celebrate the country’s Independence Day.
Moreover, students alleged that members of the university administration were using high-handed tactics against them, including verbal threats and physical violence, to silence the student body.
It is important to mention here that the UET students protest had started shortly after student protests in Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad were called off after successful negotiations with city administration.
Similarities between the two protests were observed when the UET students refused to accept the vice chancellor’s invitation to hold a meeting in his office to address student woes. The QAU protestors had followed the same line during their protests by refusing to hold negotiations with university administration. UET students also avoided the call for negotiations fearing that they would be expelled from the varsity in a similar manner to what happened with QAU students.
Learning important lessons from students’ agitation movements, the UET students demanded that the vice chancellor should hold negotiations and make announcement in this regard in front of all students.