Lahore [Pakistan], January 18 : Student organisations from public and private sector educational institutions have announced student solidarity marches across Pakistan on February 12, as part of efforts to highlight student suicides and other issues faced by them in higher educational institutions, Dawn reported.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference at the Lahore Press Club attended by Progressive Students Collective (PSC) Central General Secretary Iqbal Khan, The Students' Herald Chief Editor Qazi Shehryar, PSC spokesperson Sara Ali, PSC Information Secretary Sher Ali, former vice president Ali Raza and JKNSF leader Mujeeb Akbar, according to Dawn.
The groups also declared that a march will be held in Lahore from Government College University (GCU) to the Punjab Assembly to draw attention to student suicides and wider student concerns on campuses.
At the press conference, Khan stated that students were suffering from alienation and severe distress due to rising university fees, constant humiliation, harassment and the lack of student representation in decision-making processes, Dawn reported.
He alleged that students in public universities face humiliation at the hands of bureaucratic administrations, while private university students are affected by arbitrary policies of the private education "mafia," which he claimed is focused on extracting money from students.
Khan further claimed that private universities admit students beyond the number permitted by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) purely for profit, and that private educational institutions deliberately fail students to force them out, the report said.
He also accused the government of privatising public sector schools, colleges and universities instead of regulating private universities, as per Dawn.
PSC spokesperson Sara Ali alleged that students in universities were continuously humiliated, and that such humiliation begins at the university gate, where security guards interrogate them with endless questions before allowing entry, Dawn reported.
Ali also said students were paying health funds as part of their fees, but were not provided health insurance in return. She further claimed that complaints of sexual harassment were mocked and that there was no effective mechanism to address such humiliation or provide justice.
Former vice president Ali Raza demanded the restoration of student unions, which he said have been banned for the past forty years. He said student unions were the only institutions that could truly represent students' issues and work toward solutions.
Raza said the nationwide Student Solidarity Marches on February 12 will demand the restoration of student unions and solutions to other ongoing campus issues.