Karachi
Protests mar KU convocation
A group of students of the University of Karachi staged a demonstration against the KU administration during the 22nd convocation of the university on Saturday. Chaos occurred due to mismanagement on the part of the administration which was later sorted out temporarily by the intervention of one of the pro-vice chancellors and some senior teachers.

In an attempt to handle the protestors’ the security guards and other staff deployed at the convocation pushed back the students’ as well as media personnel who were busy trying to converge on the event.

These students were enrolled for the BS Programme at the University but the top position holders were not awarded gold medals which they deserved like other students.

Around 400 students were enrolled in the BS Programme in different disciplines offered by the University, said Zainab, a student of Department of Chemistry, who was chanting slogans among other BS students against the Convocation Committee and the KU administration.

There were almost 58 students who got overall first position in BS Programme in their respective departments and institutes.

First Position holder from the Department of Economics and Finance Shazia Kazmi said that KU administration told her to bring a sponsor herself if she wanted to get a gold medal. The students who were protesting claimed that they had higher percentage and cumulative grade point average as compared to the students of other disciplines.

“The University does not give gold medal to the students itself. Such awards are sponsored by individuals, industries and companies. As it was the first batch of the BS Programme, no sponsorship was present for them. As such, these students could not their gold medal which they surely deserved,” one of the members of Convocation Committee said.

In a meeting which was recently conducted in connection with the convocation, it was decided that ‘letter of acknowledgement’ would be offered to these students. By principle, KU agreed that position holders of the BS Programme are eligible and equivalent to the position holders of other degree programme. KU offered gold medal to the students which were already sponsored by the philanthropists, he further said.

The former President of Karachi University Teachers’ Society, Professor Dr Abid Hussain, commenting on the issue said the situation was not serious but it was mishandled. The KU used to get gold medals for the position holders of B.Sc (Honours) and M.Sc Programme. Meanwhile BS Programme was equivalent to B.Sc (H) and M.Sc Programme, which means they could easily offer one gold medal to the deserving person, he further said. KU administration just has revised the MoU with the sponsors to get gold medal for the students of BS Programme, he added.

The general secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League, Haleem Adil Sheikh, who left the convocation in the middle, told The News that there was a need to morally support the students but, unfortunately, an unpleasant scene was observed today. The education sector, he said, was not heading in the right direction. The students who clinched positions in their departments and faculties had done remarkable job which should be appreciated at the higher level. The KU administration should solve this by giving appreciation the talent of position holders and do not break their hearts, he said.

The senior education minister and Pro-Chancellor of the KU, Pir Mazhar Ul Haq, who was the chief guest on the occasion, expressed disappointment over the demonstration during the convocation. The behaviour of these young and immature students was not a good sign, he said. They should not act in a way they demonstrated here, it showed their childish attitude, he added.

“You could grab your rights, but not an honour. It is an acknowledgment which is given to someone not taken forcefully,” he further said. They should have shown respect when KU was announcing to award honorary D.Sc Degree to well-know Dr Adib Ul Hassan Rizvi,. The doctor was not present and Dr Anwar Naqvi received his honour.

Pir Mazhar announced one gold medal on behalf of the Pir Elhi Bux Foundation and asked philanthropists to help KU in this regard. The Foundation would provide Rs1 million to KU while Sardar Yaseen Malik, member of the KU Syndicate inform the education minister that he would provide Rs2.5 million to the institute. Senator Abdul Haseeb also informed the minister that he would provide a gold medal for a student from next year.

A group of students, who were protesting against KU administration, would now meet the Vice Chancellor, KU, Professor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqi on Monday at 9:30am to resolve this matter permanently.

Meanwhile, well-known surgeon Dr Adib Ul Hassan Rizvi was awarded the (Honorary) Phd Degree by the administration of University of Karachi (KU) during its convocation held at Valika Ground, KU, on Saturday. However, since Dr Rizvi could not turn up in person, his colleague Dr Anwar Naqvi received the degree.

At least 1,875 degrees and over 100 gold medals were conferred on the graduates and students who got top positions in their respective departments during the Convocation KU.

Faiz Rasool from Department of Sociology received two gold medals, and earned overall first position in entire Arts Faculty. Rasool, a blind student, said he was hired as a lecturer in the Government Degree Allama Iqbal College (Boys) and take an off day to attend the convocation.

“It was my dream to become a teacher, I was hopeful that I would get a gold medal but not 100 per cent sure,” he told The News.

The KU Convocation-2011 confers degrees on students who completed their bachelors and masters programmes during Academic Session of 2009 and 2010. This year the KU distributed degrees to the students who were enrolled at the University in the morning and evening shift. There were 3, 718 graduates and masters students in 2009 while 5, 602 students completed their post-graduate and graduate programme in 2010 from the University.

In 2010, 125 students had obtained their PhD Degrees whereas 190 students completed their PhD’s in 2010 whereas in 2009. As many as 19 students from the Faculty of Pharmacy collected their PhD Degrees during the convocation. A total 68 students from various departments of the Faculty of Arts also received their PhD Degrees in the convocation.

Moreover, 27 PhD Degrees were conferred on the students of Islamic Studies, four students of Management and Administrative Sciences also collect their PhD Degrees in the convocation. The degrees were awarded to the students of 58 departments in the faculties of arts, science, Islamic studies, engineering, management and administrative sciences, medicine and pharmacy.

KU Pro- Chancellor and senior minister for Education, Pir Mazhar-ul Haq said that education was the second highest priority of the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government who is trying its best to improve the education standard in the province.

The present government has started recruitment of teachers to education institutions to overcome shortage of teachers in the public sector, he further said. “The Sindh Public Service Commission has recruited teachers and deployed them to various parts of the province to restart what were formerly ghost schools which had stopped functioning due to unavailability of work force,” he added.

“All appointments were made purely on merit and I am also working to present a bill in Sindh Assembly to make a law to hire teachers according to certain criteria,” he told the participants. The education department is also working on a policy to offer grade BPS-18 to the college-based lecturers in future, Pir Mazhar announced.

The Vice-Chancellor, KU, Professor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui highlighted different projects of the institutes and future plans during the event. According to him, new campuses of KU would be opened in Dubai and Mauritius. He lauded the commitment of Pir Mazhar to education.

In 2004, the institute awarded 61 PhD degrees and in 2011 the figured reached to 238 students. Up to 1, 000 highly trained KU teachers are busy imparting education to the students, he added.

In 2007, the University had prepared its first master plan and now the new buildings are constructed by following this mega plan, and the KU administration has established financial aid office for those students who could not bear the expense of education and number of philanthropist from all over the country have joined hands with KU for this noble cause. the news

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