Haleem Asad
TIMERGARA: Students of the Abdul Wali Khan University Timergara campus on Tuesday demanded of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) authorities to provide deserving students of the campus with lap tops under the prime minister lap tops scheme and issue notification of the campus recognition. More than 200 students in this regard staged a protest demonstration in front of the campus coordinator’s office. The students chanted slogans for accepting of their demand and solution of their problems. Later speaking at a news conference here the students’ leaders Syed Muhammad of computer science, Nasir ud Din of sociology, Fawad Khan and Hazrat Bilal of management sciences’ department complained that Timergara campus of the Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) Mardan had not been recognized by the HEC so far. They said the future of a total of 483 students of sociology, computer science and management sciences’ departments was at stake as they would face recognition of their degrees in future. They said that they had passed six semesters in their disciplines but still there had been no surety of the campus’s recognition. The students also complained that despite their names in the HEC lists the deserving students were not providing lap tops under the prime minister’s lap tops scheme. They said the students of the AWKU Timergara campus also faced the shortage of specialist teachers, equipped class rooms and laboratories. They said there had been no arrangements for clean drinking water and the students were being forced to use water brought in tankers from a nearby stream. The students also complained about non availability of transport facility. “Though the campus has its own buses but they have been parked on the premises and the students have no transport facility for the last seven months,” one of the students’ leaders said, adding the federal government had allowed all universities for fee reimbursement to students of militancy hit areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federally administered tribal areas (FATA) but students of the Timergara campus had not been paid so far. He said the campus also lacked internet and multimedia facilities and the students had no opportunity to do research work. “Majority of our teachers are visiting professors and the varsity administration had been doing nothing to appoint permanent teachers,” they said. The students also condemned the administration of the varsity for its failure to resolve grievances being faced by students of the Timergara campus. The AWKU Timergara campus’s students threatened to come on the road against the campus management and administration of the AWKU Mardan if their problems were not addressed without any further delay.
Meanwhile the coordinator of the campus Muhibullah rejected most of the students’ allegation and told local journalists at his office that the campus’ authorities had submitted Rs 100,000 registration fee with the HEC for its recognition. He said that soon the cam
