Hundreds of students of Sindh University protested against the increase in fees. A rally was held in Jamshoro from the Arts Faculty to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Convocation Hall of the university where the protesting students staged a sit-in. During the sit-in, VC Mohammad Siddique Kalhoro and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Nisar Khurho tried to negotiate with the students.
The students demanded that the decision to increase the fees be reversed. Nisar Khuhro promised to reduce the fees by 50%, but the students rejected it and announced to continue the protest. Students say that Nisar Khuhro only talked about reducing the increase in merit fee, but that they were demanding reduction of self-finance fee including merit.
A few days ago, a delegation of students met the VC to resolve the issues pertaining to the hostels. The VC assured the students that the problems would be solved. A day after that meeting, a circular for admissions in next higher classes was issued by university administration, and updated the new fees challans on the website.
“We read on the e-portal of the university website that the fee has been increased from 30 to 40 percent. This is unfair to working class students. This university was the only educational institution which provided education to the students belonging to the poor class,” says Aijaz, a student at the Sindh University.
“Semester of this year has gone online due to the coronavirus pandemic. And since our total fee includes all fees including tuition, transport, tour and others, this time we should have been charged only tuition fee, because students have borne all the costs for online classes, from smartphones to internet packages,” he says.
He added that this unfair fee hike is an act of depriving students of their right to education. Families of students are already stuck in financial problems due to corona virus, how can they pay such hefty fees,” he added.