By Bilal Kanjal
FAISALABAD: The students of Government College University Faisalabad Sub Campus Layyah are being forced to sit in reexaminations of the spring semester because of policy directions from Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad. This decision has threatened the future of almost 4538 students.
According to details, the sub-campus has 13 departments and 28 disciplines in which almost 5,438 students are enrolled. The administration had conducted the examination for the last semester between May 22 and 29. But according to available documents, July 7 is the next date to reappear in the exams.
The quitting staff and its members have withheld the results and complained that they have not been paid in the last eight months by the administration.
Hundreds of students of the sub-campus Layyah have protested the university administration for pressurising them to sit in the reexaminations. In a recent protest, they blocked TDA Chowk and Chobara road by burning tyres and chanting slogans against university administration.
One of the protesting students said that they are not ready to sit in the exams at such short notice because we are unfamiliar with the course. Sub campus director Qaiser Abbas Bhatti tried to negotiate with the students to no avail.
While talking with Pakistan Today one of the leading protesters Mujahid Khosa said that it is the failure of sub-campus administration and they are trying to impose their incompetency on us. We are not prepared at any cost to sit in the examination.
He also said that we don’t have personal enmity with the director or anyone else. This is not the problem of four thousand students; this is the problem of four thousand families, he said.
Deputy Opposition Leader Punjab Assembly Shahabuddin Khan Sehar, PPP District General Secretary Dr. Malik Javid Iqbal Kanjal, PTI leader Malik Hashim Hussain Saho and Malik Asghar Ali Gujjar showed their solidarity with the students.
After today’s meeting held with DC Wajid Ali, Mujahid Khosa said that we are waiting for a few more days before deciding our next plan. We will go the High Court or the HEC to extend our protest if needed.
PTI leader and Lawyer Malik Hashim Hussain Sahu, who was in protest with the students, said that there is no clause in any law that lays grounds for reexamination. ‘The institutes may delay exams or extend the date of exams if some natural calamity has stricken or an event takes place due to which it becomes hard to conduct the exams but it cannot conduct re-exams,’ he said.
When contacted, Director of the Sub Campus Qaiser Abbas Bhatti claimed that we are obliged by HEC directives. When questioned about the salaries of the staff, he said that this is all propaganda.
When asked about the re-examination of the Layyah sub campus, the Executive Director HEC Dr Arshad Ali said that HEC has not issued any notification to this sub campus. ‘We coordinate directly with the main campus and not the sub campus’, he added.
