MUZAFFARABAD, June 9: The students of the Department of Computer Science, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, have threatened to hold a demonstration and torch their degrees in front of the President House to press the university administration to address the problems that have been confronting them since long.

Around 175 students of four classes — BCS and MCS, junior and senior — all studying under the self-finance scheme, have been on a strike since June 3 as the last resort to force the administration to pay attention to their problems and accept their genuine demands.

Interviews, conducted by Dawn with the striking students, show that the department, established in December 2000, still lacks a number of basic facilities although the per semester fee for an MSC student is as high as Rs30,000 (now reportedly reduced to Rs25,000) and for a BCS student, it is Rs25,000 (now reduced to Rs18,000).

A small portion of the university old campus houses the department, where earlier one-year diploma courses (PGD) were conducted. There are only two rooms for the MCS students in the department, one of which has been partitioned to create a staff room for the teachers.

The classes of the BCS students are conducted sometimes in the adjoining Department of Economics, but mostly they are held in the auditorium. Whenever there is any function at the auditorium, their classes are not conducted. For this reason, the senior students refer to the BCS students as “nomads”.

According to the students, the laboratory of the department, having only 19 computers, is opened just for two hours a day, making it very difficult for all of them to avail of the facility. The department’s library, too, is very small and does not have relevant books.

The students demanded that 50 per cent admissions to the department should be given on merit.