ISLAMABAD: In order to avoid a massive student protest, similar to what was witnessed in Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad, the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) readily accepted the demands of its own protesting students, by deferring the increase in transport, lab, hostel and other degree-related charges, Pakistan Today has reliably learned.
The students of QAU had earlier put all academic activities on halt for almost one month, while demanding restoration of rusticated and expelled students, besides withdrawing the unjust increase in fees. The QAU protestors also demanded the availability of facilities inside the university.
Therefore, following in the footsteps of QAU protests, students from IIUI also threatened to hold a protest in a move to push the administration to reverse its decision regarding increase in transport, lab and degree charges, besides demanding to keep hostels open during summers and recontinue summer semester in the varsity.
A senior official, wishing anonymity, told Pakistan Today that the university administration was all set to make massive hike in charges under various heads, but the decision had been deferred due to pressure created by a possible student protest. However, he said that the university could increase the charges of transport, lab, hostels and degrees once chances of a possible protest subsided.
The official said that the IIUI board of governors took many decisions, including closure of summer semester with few exceptions, closure of hostels during summer vacation, increase in transport charges from R.1,500 per semester to Rs 2,500, lab development charges from Rs 1,500 per semester to Rs 3,000 per semester, and transport development charges to Rs 2,500 per semester, revision of the merit scholarships criteria from 4/4 GPA to 4/4 CGPA, increase in hostel charges and restoration of degree fee.
He said that the decision was taken to minimise the budget deficit of the university; however, the students’ sudden reaction to the very harsh decisions compelled the university administration to backtrack from its earlier decision made in the board of governors meeting.
In the first instance, the students complained about the decisions of the board of governors, which did not work, but later they threatened to protest under the umbrella of the Islamian United Students Federation against the board’s decisions, that eventually worked and the administration had to defer the plan for the time being.
The official said that the decision should have to be implemented in principle by October 31, but the administration did not do so due to pressure and deferred the plan.
A senior student, requesting anonymity, said that they took a firm stand on the issue, due to which the administration had to retreat, vowing that they were observing the situation closely and could launch a protest at any time if the administration again opted to implement the unjust decisions.
He said that the students have all rights to protest peacefully because the university had already imposed high fees on the students.
The student also said that there was time when poor students could get admission in the varsity, but now even the children of middle-class people have to think many times before sending their children to the university, especially after the increase in fees.
When contacted, IIUI Media in-charge Syed Hassan Aftab said that while presenting the university annual budget, deficit was expected. Therefore, proposals were presented that the university needed to take resource generation measures to meet the growing financial deficit.
He said that various proposals were submitted, out of which one was to restore the old degree fee which was Rs 5,000, but was brought to Rs 1,000 in 2010, besides proposing raise in transport charges.
Aftab said that these were proposals which the board of governors approved in principle and notified due to misunderstanding, which the university withdrew and declared it void ab initio, pleading that it was not implementable.
Therefore, he said that a committee had been formed and tasked with the duty to reshape the proposal and make it worth implementation. On one hand it would help minimise university expense, and on the other hand, provide a resource generation avenue for the university, he added.
Aftab further said that the committee was likely to complete its working before the board of governors meeting, which was likely to be held in December or January next.
He claimed that the notification was not withdrawn under students’ pressure, but the whole three stakeholders, including students, faculty members and employees were affected, which was why the university withdrew its decision.
