PESHAWAR: Students gathered in front of the administration block of University of Peshawar (UoP) under the banner of Muttahida Tulaba Alliance on Wednesday threatened to go on hunger strike as they alleged the administration was dilly-dallying in accepting their main demand regarding taking back the yearly 10 per cent increase in fee.

The alliance of all political wings, federations and regional organisations of the UoP students held a sit-in protest for the second consecutive day, asking the administration to stop the yearly 10 per cent increase in semester fees, provide transport and hostel facility to the students and provide protection to the girl students. They also demanded of the administration to secure accreditation of Pakistan Engineering Council for students of the Electronics Department and resolve the recognition issue of BS programme of the Institute of Education and Research (IER) students.

A group of students told Dawn during the protest that they would not budge from the front lawn of the administration block if their demands were not accepted.

Says varsity admin using delaying tactics on fee rise issue

“We spent the night in the lawn and would not move from here till the administration pays heed to our demands,” said Mohammad Hanif, a student and political activist.

Another organiser and student leader Awal Sher Khan said that they held a three-hour meeting with the UoP administration, but there was a deadlock on the fee hike issue.

“I am a Geology Department student and in the last four years my fee has hiked from Rs23,000 to Rs49,000. We don’t accept so much fee rise,” he said. Mr Khan said that there was a large pool of 120 buses in UoP, but these were not used to provide transport facility to the students.

Abdullah, a student of UoP, said that students got admission on merit, but the fee in this public sector university had gone up. He claimed that the students here had been paying more fee than private universities.

Rahat Farooqi, another student leader, said that the students also faced problems like accommodation and transport. He said the UoP often lamented lack of funds, but it was only the students who suffered the consequences of it.

The protesters said that they would continue their sit-in unless the UoP listened to their demands. The administration has been telling the students that their demands would be put to the Syndicate in its meeting on Dec 7, but the students want an urgent response to solution of their problems.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2017