The National Textile University Faisalabad, the leading institution in textile engineering in the region is closed since December last year, but surprisingly the government to date has not tried to find out the reason of its closure.
Dozens of (NTUF) students have been braving unfriendly weather here in front of the Parliament to seek the government help for a week or so.
Finally they succeeded, their university's state of affairs echoed in the Senate on Friday.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raza Hayat Haraj after the session was prorogued came to the protesting students, hailing from all the four provinces, holding banners and placards against the university closure and the management crisis.
The minister patiently listened to their observations and promised to look into the matter and rectify the situation as early as possible.
The ruling party Senator Kamil Ali Agha, in his emotional remarks, drew the attention of the House towards the matter and cautioned against the plight of the students.
He demanded of the government to take control of the university to save future of students.
"Obviously Islamabad (government) is our last hope. We travelled to the capital to get the crisis resolved and the university back in business," said the students while talking to the minister Haraj.
They held the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) responsible for rampant corruption and mismanagement at the university.
The students distributed copies of a 'memorandum' among newsmen, which said that soon after the take-over, Aptma increased the annual fee from Rs 3250 to Rs 40,000, without taking the board of governors into confidence. From 1996 to 2003 in five years, fee was raised from Rs 6000 to 78,000. The financial position of the university is in a bad shape.
The fee was increased to Rs 78,000 last year, which prompted sharp reaction from students, particularly those who belonged to the middle class.
To further add to students' miserable plight, self-finance scheme was introduced to 'mint money'.
The university's foundation stone was laid by late president M. Ayub Khan in 1959. It was opened with the name of National College of Textile Engineering. However, its downfall started with Aptma taking it over during former caretaker prime minister Moeen Qureshi era in 1993.
However, the university's control was given to Aptma under this undertaking that the government property would neither be sold out not handed over to any one.
Among other problems, the number of teachers is limited: in spinning, weaving, textile chemistry, garments and basic sciences departments, only three Ph.D. teachers are available.
Comments
Comments are closed.