KARACHI, Nov 5: Students of the Visual Studies Department, University of Karachi, whose exhibits and equipment, including electronic equipment, were damaged by a group of enraged students on Tuesday, are likely to get compensation, said sources on the campus.

It was further learnt that disciplinary action could be taken against students involved in the act of hooliganism on the inaugural day of the “Degree Show” of the Visual Studies Department.

On Wednesday too, the final-year students and the teachers of the department were seen disturbed over the incident of ransacking of a certain section of their annual exhibition of creative works. They claimed that the university administration should ensure a peaceful and congenial atmosphere for undertaking academic pursuits.

Though the show continued in a peaceful manner on its second day, some exhibits, including documentaries and other video works, could not be restored due to lack of equipment, software and video recordings.

The KU administration had taken special measures to keep the show on and save it from hooligans, said a source on the campus.

According to the initial assessment, the material and equipments worth Rs60,000 were damaged on Tuesday. On Wednesday some of the students had to sit idle as they lacked the confidence to put up stalls again.

“On Tuesday a group of students had entered the exhibition area and smashed different products on exhibition including art pieces, textile designs, documentary devices and many related exhibits,” said one student.

Intruders apparently had objections to the conduct of the show during the month of Ramazan and considered it right to upset the peaceful proceedings on the pretext that it was all against the teaching of Islam.

A teacher, defending the show, said it was all as per the course and students acted in an air of academic suitability and excellence. Talking about selection of subject of their theses and practical material, the teacher said the students were free to adopt any topic or subject and the teachers acted mostly as guides and facilitators.

Vice-Chancellor KU, Dr Zafar Saied Saify, told Dawn that the administration had taken serious notice of what happened on Tuesday and necessary action would be taken in the light of a comprehensive report being prepared by the project director of the department, Durriya Kazi.

He observed that what happened on Tuesday was deplorable, particularly when the students were carrying out their academic activities. “Inventory of the damage is being prepared and, if found necessary, affected students of the visual studies department may be compensated for their losses,” he said and added that the campus advisory committee was supposed to oversee the over-all environment on the campus, and if it recommended, disciplinary action would be taken against students disturbing academic peace on the campus.

Interviews showed that students at the visual study department pay about Rs12,500 per semester, on an average they spend an additional Rs2000 per month per student on account of the course material and other auxiliaries required for preparing different products.

“Its encouraging that during the period of education we start getting job as free lancers from different production houses, which fetches some money as well,” said a female student.

A teacher said that department was imparting fine arts and other designing courses to the students in a meaningful way, despite limitations, and offered an ample facility for specialized education in any public sector institution.

“Against the allocated 70 seats, the number of applicants has been increasing significantly every year,” he added.