TAXILA: Hundreds of students belonging to Taxila, Wah and Hassanabdal and enrolled in a graduation degree programme of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) have expressed concerns over non-provision of textbooks to them by the university administration even 20 days after the expiry of the deadline for submission of the first assignment.

The students enrolled in Bachelor of Arts (BA) first semester fall 2020 told newsmen here on Sunday that they were not being provided textbooks even though they had paid all the dues. They said Feb 15 was the last date for submission of the first assignment of the first semester and March 15 for the submission of the assignment for the second semester.

Zahura Naqvi, a student, said hundreds of young women wanted to complete their education through the distance education system.

“We are passing through a psychological trauma as we would get little time for preparation for the assignments and final exam.”

Another student, Ayesha Bibi, said her father was a daily wage labourer and she deposited the fee by sewing clothes to pursue higher education but due to the flawed policy of the university she was waiting for the books for the last four months.

Aoun Raza from Wah said he was the only breadearner for his family and worked as a helper in a garment shop and was enrolled in BA so that he could complete his graduation. He said his future was at stake.

Noman Javaid, another student, said even public sector universities were becoming money minting organisations and despite charging heavy fees from students their service delivery was very poor.

He said he had filed a complaint with the university administration but to no avail.

The students called upon the federal ministry of education as well as the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to take notice of the situation and direct the university to provide books to the students without any further delay.

When contacted, AIOU Rawalpindi region manager Mian Mohammad Riaz said this year a record number of students - 2.6 million - had enrolled in the graduation programme of the university.

He said due to Covid-19, the university faced problems in getting the books printed from the market. As a result, books were dispatched to only one million students across the country. He said the remaining students would get the books in the current month.

Responding to a question, he said keeping in view the problem faced by the students due to the unavailability of books, the university administration had rescheduled the due date for submission of assignments.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2021