PESHAWAR (Special Reporter)
Hundreds of students from Government College Peshawar and other public educational institutions staged a massive protest demonstration outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly against a sudden and thousands-of-rupees hike in examination fees. The protestors were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding a reduction in fees and criticizing the college administration. They demanded an immediate withdrawal of the decision to increase fees.
The demonstrators stated that the Higher Education Department and the college management have introduced an extraordinary hike in examination fees, which has broken the financial back of students and their parents. According to the students, the examination fee was previously around Rs. 5,000, but now additional amounts are being collected from them under various hidden charges and funds. The protestors alleged that by including sports funds and other miscellaneous charges, the fees have been pushed up to Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 11,000.
Students participating in the protest argued that the majority of them have no connection to sports activities, making the collection of a heavy sports fund entirely unjust. They highlighted that the total fee for eight semesters, which previously accumulated to around Rs. 9,000, has now skyrocketed to Rs. 20,000, making it impossible for students from lower-income and middle-class backgrounds to continue their education.
Address by the Speakers
Addressing the demonstration, Ali Aman, a student representing Government College Peshawar, said, “Today we should have been in our classrooms, but the government’s cruel decisions have forced us onto the streets.” He added that their parents are working hard as laborers to fund their education, and such an exorbitant increase in educational expenses is a conspiracy to keep the youth away from education.
The protestors appealed to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Provincial Minister for Education to intervene and take immediate notice of the matter. The students warned that if the fee hike is not withdrawn immediately, the scope of the protest will be expanded across the entire province.