Closure Of UoP Deplored By Students, Parents; Governor Urged To Take Notice

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Mar, 2023 ) :The students of the University of Peshawar and their parents on Wednesday deplored undue closure of University of Peshawar (UoP) from the last three weeks and urged the Governor and chancellor of the university to take notice of the issue.

They said that a strike by teachers and other faculty of the university in the wake of the killing of a security supervisor followed by unplanned spring vacations had wasted a lot of their time.

They said that approximately 15,000 students were enrolled with the UoP and had paid millions of rupees under the heads of tuition fees, admission, examination, hostels charges, transport, security and others but still their precious time was being wasted by the university administration on one pretext or the other.

Danial Aziz, a student of the varsity said the protesting faculty had warned to prolong their strike till Eid if their demands were not met, adding that in strife between university administration and teaching faculty, the students were suffering, and no authority was ready to realise that the precious time and semester of students would be wasted if the strike continues.

Different students' unions had also staged a camp at the main gate of the university and blocked it for all kinds of traffic for the early reopening of the university and revival of educational activities.

They urged the Governor and Chancellor UoP Ghulam Ali to take notice of the strike and issue necessary measures to ensure resumption of the educational activities.

It is worth mentioning here that the UoP announced spring vacations from March 13 to 22 amid a boycott of classes by teaching faculty and suspension of all the official and administrative services by other faculty members for the fulfilment of their demands.

The protest call was given on March 7 by the Peshawar University Teachers' Association (PUTA) and representative bodies of other employees after the killing of UoP security supervisor Saqlain Bangash by a security guard.

All the academic, official and even sanitation activities on the campus were immediately suspended after the strike call.

They demanded the removal of the VC and a judicial probe into the killing of the security supervisor, clearing the university of arms and conducting a psychological examination of all the security staff.