LAHORE: A large number of students of a private university on Monday held a protest on Raiwind Road against the university administration for not allowing them to sit examinations without submitting advance fees for the next semester.

The students gathered outside the university’s main campus on Raiwind Road and held a demonstration against its administration. Carrying placards and banners, they were chanting slogans against the university.

A heavy police contingent approached the scene and baton-charged the students to clear the road for traffic.

The policemen also threatened the students with dire consequences for protesting during the imposition of Section 144 of the PPC in the city.

The students said they were unable to pay a fee for one semester due to inflation and could not think of submitting a two-semester fee. They said the administration was not allowing them to sit in the final examination of their current semester on the pretext of not submitting the next semester fees, which was illogical. They said the university had also increased the fee of the current semester without considering the economic crisis.

A student, Hammad Kakar, said the administration was demanding advance fees for the next semester and was not allowing them to sit the examination. He said he and other students were receiving threats of dire consequences for organising the protest against the university.

The protesting students said private educational institutes were charging hefty fees and there was no regulating authority to monitor them. They demanded the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Higher Education Department (HED) and the government to take notice of the increasing fee by the private institutes, devise some fee structure and make sure that all institutions follow the structure.

Later, the university administration accepted the demands of the students and allowed them to sit the examinations from Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2023