–Progressive Students Collective’s rally seeks relief for students from minority ethnicities, lower-middle economic strata
–Demands restoration of student unions, establishment of universities in marginalised areas, formation of harassment committees, affordable tuition fee, declaration of April 13 as Mashal Khan day
LAHORE: The Progressive Students Collective (PSC) Friday staged a rally themed “Students Solidarity March” in eight major cities of the country.
The cities in which rallies were held included Lahore, Karachi, Jamshoro, Multan, Quetta, Gilgit and Islamabad, where hundreds of students were in attendance.
The protestors in Lahore peacefully marched from Istanbul Chowk to Faisal Chowk – the erstwhile Charing Cross – on The Mall without causing any roadblocks.
“Harassment, dropouts due to rising fee, suicides, discrimination and other issues are like a growing disease in the universities across the country with no solution in sight,” the participants of the rally said while explaining to Pakistan Today as to why PSC has put forward a 17-point charter of demands addressed to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
“It [the charter of demands] is aimed mainly at the relief of students from minority ethnicities and the lower-middle economic strata,” they said.
A few of the demands include the restoration of student unions, establishment of universities in marginalised areas of Pakistan, higher quota for students outside of Punjab, formation of harassment committees and policies, allocation of five per cent gross domestic product (GDB) for education, affordable tuition fee, improved and nondiscriminatory syllabus, and the declaration of April 13 as Mashal Khan day.
Speaking to Pakistan Today in Lahore, Punjab University (PU) student Raja Wasem, who is from Gilgit Baltistan (GB), highlighted the plight of students from provinces other than Punjab.
“Out of a class of 200, the quota set aside for us is 15, and this too is a favour to us as we only had 4 seats until last year. We simply do not have options, there aren’t any varsities which offer the same level of education and credentials that universities in Punjab do. If a student desires to take up a subject like engineering then it is understood that he or she will have to study in Punjab, or maybe even Sindh, but the quota system makes sure that hundreds of talented students are left without degrees each year,” he lamented.
Harassment at the hands of teachers as well as students in Pakistan is being reported more and more each day. These incidents have been taking place on campus and are affecting students for the worse.
Hadiqa Basit, a second-year student of the Government College University (GCU) Lahore spoke about how PSC has helped in raising her awareness and resolve for a better environment at educational institutions. “I was a freshman when there was an incident of harassment in our class. A boy had physically harassed a girl by slapping her out of personal vengeance for something meagre. Although he was expelled, the fact remained that the university did not and continues to shy away from developing a harassment policy,” she said.
Through the Students Solidarity March, the PSC has vowed to keep up its ongoing struggle with the “extensively flawed” Pakistani education system until its demands are met.
Interestingly, the students who showed up to the march included mostly public and low-cost private school students. While there was a large representation of students from PU, GCU and Forman Christian College (FCC); the representation of private universities like Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Lahore School of Economics (LSE) and LUMS was little to none.
Further, the representation of Punjabi students also seemed lower than it should have been, showing that the movement has a lot of work to do regarding the ignorance and detachment of privileged students when it comes to their peers.
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) law teacher Aisha Ahmad, while speaking about the movement said, “We realise that we have a long way to go but we are determined to ensure the well-being of our country’s future – our students”.
She said that PSC was actively holding meetings, without any external help, in various educational institutions to raise awareness among students about the plight of their peers who are at the direct receiving end of the government’s apathy.
