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NUML guards administration, humiliating visitors: students
ISLAMABAD, July 14: The administration and security
staff of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) are harassing and
mistreating students visiting the university for information and
admissions.
Numerous students said that they had come from
far-flung areas of the country for admission but no one in the university was
ready to provide them with the exact information. They said the college
prospectus contained insufficient information and they had to contact the
university's administration for their questions to be answered. "I have come all
the way from interior Sindh to take admission, but the university's
administration kept sending me from one room to another," said Mushtaq Ghotu, a
student. He said apart from the humiliation meted out to the students at the
hands of the administration, water coolers placed in almost every block of the
university also did not function properly and that there were no glasses to
drink water. He added that students from far-flung areas were denied entry to
the cafeteria.
Another student, a girl studying MA English, said that if a girl and boy ever sat together in campus to discuss some topic
or take notes, the guards harassed them. "I don't know why they spy on us when
we are studying in the same class," she said. She said even the library was not
safe from the guards' access, adding, "Studying here is like studying in jail."
She said students were also disallowed to enter the university after 8 am and
leave before 1 pm.
The university has an enrollment of 12,000, but there
are only 25 busses to pick and drop students. Numerous students complained that
they were herded into buses like animals, adding that influential parents,
particularly those with "military backgrounds", got the buses' routes fixed.
There are only two hostels for the 12,000 students and the one meant for
foreigners is equipped with all necessary facilities. Many students living in
the hostels work and are not allowed to enter the hostel after 10 pm, while
there is no girls hostel located in the university. "I am working for an
international company as a marketing manager and mostly I get late due to my
job, but the administration is not ready to listen to me," said a student. When
contacted a university official, he rejected the accusations and
said that the university's administration was a bit strict about visitors' entry
due to some "mishaps" in the past. However, he said visitors coming for
admission or any information were completely facilitated. Daily times
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