Pakistan raises tuition fees, cuts down reserved seats of Baloch students

The Pakistan government has adopted a harsh and discriminatory attitude towards Balochistan and Baloch students by raising tuition fees and cutting down their reserved seats.

They are being deprived of their right to education, reported International Forum for Right and Security (IFFRAS).

Baloch students at the Islamia University Bahawalpur have been protesting for the past several days against harassment on the varsity campus, hostel allotments, prejudicial behaviour of the varsity administration and the racial profiling of Baloch students.

Universities across Pakistan, especially in the Punjab province, are reducing the quota of Balochistan and the tuition fee is being exponentially increased.

The Islamic University of Bahawalpur has been charging a half-per-cent fee from the poor students of Balochistan since 2020, in violation of the government agreement, and with this, the hostel doors have been completely closed for the students of Balochistan, reported IFFRAS.

Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province. With a few universities in Balochistan offering limited courses, many students from this province head to other provinces for higher education.

But education in Pakistan has become heavily and increasingly consigned to the private sector, making it unaffordable for many students.

Most of the students choose public universities due to their lower tuition, but even those have had fee hikes in the last few years making it unaffordable for the majority, reported IFFRAS.

Shouting slogans like "Restore reserved seats and scholarships in universities of Punjab," and "Anti-education policies, unacceptable!" Baloch students have been trying to draw attention to their plight.

Protests by Baloch students have become a regular feature and yet their calls for rights appear to fall on deaf ears.

The student leaders say that the Baloch students with meagre resources work day and night to secure scholarships at different universities in Punjab, but they are being mistreated and even forced to abandon their education and head back home, reported IFFRAS.

In response to student protests, Punjab University (PU) administration at regular intervals decreased the scholarship quota reserved for students from Balochistan.

By an earlier order, institutions, including PU, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Lahore College for Women University, Government College University, Lahore, Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan, University of Gujrat, Islamia University Bahawalpur, were on the list to provide free education to students from Balochistan. PU has only two per cent reserved seats for Balochistan students, reported IFFRAS.

Now these institutions have begun to ignore even this meagre two per cent reservation quota for Baloch students and are charging additional 50 per cent fees on reserved seats, which the government already pays to the university.

In 2017, half of the reserved seats for students of Balochistan were withdrawn and finally, in 2020, all the scholarships in Multan's Bahauddin Zakariya University for students of Balochistan were suspended.

Baloch students are subjected to discrimination on these campuses. Frequent quarrels erupt between Baloch and Punjabi councils in the universities. But the Punjab government routinely ignores the grievances of the Baloch students for access to equal education opportunities.

For the last few days in September 2022, Baloch students are demonstrating at Bahawalpur University, demanding - the restoration of fully funded scholarships for Baloch students on reserved seats; on-campus accommodation, discriminatory behaviour adopted by the university administration against Baloch students, their profiling and harassment. They are also demanding the charged dues on reserved seats be refunded, reported IFFRAS.

Instead of sitting with the students and entering into negotiations, the varsity administration chose the forceful means by compiling a list of students of Balochistan and expelling them from the university in the name of 'discipline' and 'distorting law and order situation'.

( With inputs from ANI )