Islamabad - The students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) yesterday boycotted the classes against up to 30 percent hike in fees and later gave a strike call for today (Wednesday) over their vice-chancellor’s irresponsible statement.
Over 1,000 students from all departments protested inside the campus against fee raise and absence of other basic amenities in the university. Later, in the evening the students announced to shut down the campus over unresponsive and irresponsible attitude of the vice-chancellor.
QAU Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf visited the protesting students in the evening but instead of resolving the issue, he infuriated them further. The VC remarked that the poor who cannot afford should not enrol themselves in the university. He told the students that fee hike will not be reversed as fee was not raised last year. He said the issue of water heating in hostels will be resolved in two months.
The remarks enraged the students who shouted “go VC go.” The VC barely escaped the angry protesters. The students continued their protest and announced to completely shut down the campus today (Wednesday).
Talking to The Nation, the students said the varsity increased the fee structure from 20 to 30 percent of all departments while it can increase fee only up to 10 percent in accordance with rules and that too in a situation when the university is facing financial crisis. The fee of BS programme has been increased from Rs 45,000 to Rs 67,000 and for master programme it has been raised from Rs 27,000 to Rs 37,000 this year, said a protesting student Zarak Khan. Likewise, the fees of MPhil and PhD programme have also been raised and the hike for the students who take admission on self-finance basis is manifold, he said.
However, the university administration maintains that it has raised tuition fee this year by 15 percent for 22 departments and by 20 percent for four departments. This is the equivalent of 7.5 percent and 10 percent per year, since there was no increase in fees last year, the university administration said in a statement. “QAU tuition fees are lower than all other public universities.” It is pertinent to mention that the university had awarded 3,556 scholarships worth over Rs 95 million to its students during the 2014-15 financial year, the statement added.
The students said that as it is a public sector university and the fee structure here should be less as compared to the private sector universities. Students from middle-class families from across the country take admission on quota basis in this university and by such unbridled hikes the administration is about to snatch the right to higher education from the middle class, said another protesting student Ali Haider.
The fee raise itself is only half of the problem and the real issue is lack of facilities in spite of the raise, commented a teaching faculty member. “Students don’t have hot water in the hostels. There is also no heating system there. Lack of proper cafeteria, computer labs and transport issues are also main issues. The students have been bearing the brunt of ill-planned expansion of programmes without infrastructure,” he said requesting not to be named.
“Students can pay the fees if it translates into better services. But what they see is that they are being taxed to fill a budgetary shortfall that has been caused by incompetent administration,” added the professor. Many students have left in the middle of academic session because of substandard living conditions in hostels and bus services, according to the students.