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Karachi University agitation against Admission policy
Agitation at KU brings academic activities to halt
Karachi, Oct 24: A protest against Karachi University's admission policy
took a serious turn on Thursday when groups of students forced their way into
classrooms and disrupted academic activities early in the morning. This led to
chaos later in the day when non-teaching staff stopped work in protest against
the alleged thrashing of an employee by a student group on
Wednesday.
According to sources, members of the Student Alliance – an
amalgamation of several student groups mostly backed by major political parties
– disrupted academic activities, harassed and forced students to leave classes.
While many teachers did not take classes in view of the law and order situation,
one of the teachers was reportedly verbally abused by a student at the applied
chemistry department.
The Rangers posted there reportedly refrained from
responding to complaints and arrived at the chemistry department after a delay
of two hours.
It was the second day of the protest by the Student
Alliance. The protesting students were demanding an open merit system and
withdrawal of the proposal for pre-entry tests. A day earlier, some students,
allegedly backed by a political party, beat up a non-teaching staff member at
the enrolment section for not accepting his degree examination
form.
Pro-vice-chancellor Dr Ikhlaq Ahmed said the
vice-chancellor had ordered an inquiry into the incident of verbal abuse of a
woman teacher. "We have been holding meetings since morning to normalize the
situation. The student who allegedly beat up a non-teaching staff member in the
enrolment section has been identified and will be issued a show-cause notice.
However, the student who abused a teacher has not been identified and the
vice-chancellor has ordered an inquiry into the incident."
On the 'silent
role' of the Rangers, he said the force had been directed by the vice-chancellor
to act swiftly on complaints. "The force has now been directed to take quick
action on any complaint of wrongdoings and pick up miscreants immediately. The
force has also been authorised to detain offenders at their campus office, hold
an investigation and lodge an FIR."
The student groups, he said, had also
been informed about this development and subsequently warned.
About
concerns over the admission policy, Director of the Admission Committee Prof Dr
Saleem Shehzad said the policy had been in place for over seven years and it was
beyond logic why student groups were protesting against it now.
On the
open merit system, he said: "Contrary to Punjab which has many general
universities in the public sector, the KU is the only public sector university
serving the most populous city of the country. Students passing their matric
exams from the Karachi board are given preference. Then, seats are offered to
students from the interior of Sindh and after that to other
provinces."
Terming students' protest over the admission policy
"completely unjustified", he said the academic council had approved the criteria
after much debate and no change would be made on demand and in haste. "Every
university has its own rules and regulations. The academic council in a recent
meeting had put on hold the matter of beginning pre-entry tests for bachelor
classes, but students are protesting on this issue, too," he said.
"The
allocated seats for Northern Areas and Fata candidates have been increased from
seven to 14 this year. Also, 10 seats have been reserved for Balochistan on the
Higher Education Commission's recommendation and there are seven seats for Azad
Jammu and Kashmir."
The general secretary of the KU
employees' union, Mohammad Farid, said that they would continue their "peaceful
protest" on Friday against the harassment and pressure tactics by students.
Commenting on Wednesday's incident, he said: "A student came with an incomplete
form and forced the staff to accept it. Upon refusal, the student threatened the
employees and later arrived there with a group and beat up four
employees."
"On Thursday, these student forced employees to close the
library. We can't work under such threats and pressure. The university must
provide us with security. There is no strike by us tomorrow, but we will record
our peaceful protest."
Tufail Ahmed of the People's Students Federation,
however, denied the allegation and said that no law and order situation was
created during the first two days of protest by the Student Alliance and it was
only when the non-teaching staff started agitation that academic activities came
to a halt on Thursday.
"The examination section doesn't have proper staff
to help students. Also, they extort money from students to accept forms. It was
the last day for the submission of degree exam forms and when the employees
didn't entertain some candidates, a situation became tense. Yes, there were some
verbal attacks, but no employee was beaten up."
He also denied
involvement of students in a 'forced boycott' and claimed that students
voluntarily left classes in support of their demands. "No student was involved
in wrongdoings whatsoever. Our demand for an open merit policy is just, and
nowhere in the country such a system exists," he said, adding that the protest
would continue on Friday.
Condemning the violent incidents and forced
boycott, Dr Abid Hasnain of the Karachi University Teachers' Society said it was
very unfortunate. "We denounce these incidents in the strongest words and feel
that they are a reflection of society's deteriorating moral values. The
administration must take punitive action against the offending students so
academic activities could continue in a peaceful manner."
The Imamia
Students Organisation, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, Northern Students Organisation
are also part of the Student Alliance. Dawn
Your Comments
"students alliance of university of karachi is a symbol for the peace in the university and should be continued and invite to all students. the step for this alliance has been given by NASA-KU (Northern areas students association University of karachi) is an appreciable for all. hopefully NASA-KU will take part in more and more such students alliances. NASA-KU has a good reputation about unity of the university. i am not a member of NASA-KU but i like their policie, although i am local resident of the karachi city......... well done NASA-KU ,,,,,,,,,, do such efforts more and more which are favour for whole students and they change the bad policies of the university..... keep it up. good luck students alliance and specially NASA-KU."
Name: Abid Karim
Email: khwaja05@yahoo.com
City, Country: karachi, Pakistan
"hello i want to know about MPA admison.plz inform me i wait for it."
Name: junaid
Email: booom009@yahoo.com
City, Country: karachi, Pakistan
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'No change in KU admission policy'
Karachi: Vice Chancellor Karachi University (KU), Prof Dr Qasim Raza
Siddiqui, has rejected the demands of different student wings for a change in
the admission policy for 2008-09 and said that admissions would be allowed
according to the decision of KU Academic Council.
He said, it was an academic issue that should be discussed in the
meeting of the council. He said that in all public universities, admissions are
given as per the fixed rule.
"KU Academic Council has nullified the
suggestion of taking admission tests for the bachelors' morning programme only
for this year and proposed the students should be given admission on merit", he
added.
On other hand, Students Alliance of the university staged protest and
took out a rally against the admission policy of the university demanding a
change in it. The protesters, belonging to Imamia Students Organisation (ISO),
Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT), Peoples Students Federation (PSF) and Punjabi
Students Association (PSA) forced the administration to suspend the
classes.
They demanded the authorities concerned to adopt an open merit
admission policy and abolish the 'category system' with immediate effect, which
is causing problems for students belonging to other districts. They also
denounced the idea of conducting entry test prior to admission at any
department.
It is pertinent to mention here that local students are being
meted out injustice regarding admission at the Karachi University since the
number of applicants is much higher than available seats.
The applicants have
been divided into three categories namely K, S and P. Category K includes the
applicants who have passed their Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Higher
Secondary Certificate (HSC) or equivalent, and possess graduation degree from a
local institution affiliated with the University of Karachi. Five per cent seats
have been reserved for applicants who have done their graduation from non-public
sector educational institutions in Karachi recognized by the University of
Karachi.
Category S comprises of applicants who have passed at least one of
the certificates (SSC or HSC) or degree examinations from a recognised
educational institution in Sindh (excluding Karachi). Category P comprises on
applicants who have passed at least one of the certificates (SSC or HSC) or
degree examinations from a recognised educational institution outside Sindh or
from abroad. Preference in admissions is given to K category candidates. In case
vacant seats, the S category candidates are considered.
Kuts Denounced
Students' Misbehavious
The leaders of Karachi University Teachers' Society
(KUTS) on Thursday condemned the misbehaviour of students towards teachers. They
said that students adopted objectionable attitude towards teachers during
protest held to suspend classes.
President KUTS Prof Dr Aqeel Ahmed, General Secretary KUTS Prof Dr Abid Hasnain
and Prof Dr Shakeel Farooqui, in a joint statement, said that teachers'
community would not tolerate the irresponsible behaviour of students, belonging
to any party or organisation, towards teachers. They said that the protesters
also harassed female students at the Applied Chemistry Department. The KUTS
leaders also denounced the manhandling of some employees at the hands of
protesting students.
They gathered in the premises of the KU administration
block and strongly protested against the incident. It is worth mentioning here
that two days ago some KU students severely beat three university
employees.
However, on the intervention of some KU high-ups and their
assurance, the employees dispersed peacefully. The Nation
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FUUAST M.Phil exam form submission shedule
Karachi: Professor Waqar-ul-Haq, Controller Examination., Federal Urdu University
for Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) has announced that examination forms
of M.Phil (Botany), Semester II, 2007, would be submitted from October 23 to
October 28, 2008. The forms are available at National Bank of Pakistan (NBP),
Gulshan-e-Iqbal Branch. He added that students are advised to submit the forms
at their departments. The News
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Education News| Updated: 09 Jan, 2009 |
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