39th year of ban on student union, restoration issue in Sindh complicated

Karachi: In the 39th year of the ban on the student union in Pakistan, the situation regarding its revival in Sindh has become very interesting but complicated.

The government of the People’s Party in Sindh has passed the Student Union Restoration Act in the fourth year of its power in 2022 and has made it a law. Due to this, the process of restoration and implementation of student union in the universities of Sindh has stopped in the first phase.

Despite many meetings and continuous deliberations and discussions, there is a deadlock between the majority of the vice-chancellors and the government on the issue of restoring the students’ union in the universities of Sindh. It is strongly against the restoration in its original form and interprets it as opening the way for political interference in the universities, while the Department of Universities and Boards of the Sindh government has failed to convince the Vice Chancellor to restore the student union despite 3 consecutive meetings in this regard. Is.

It should be noted that the Sindh Student Union Act named “Sindh Student Union Act 2019” was approved by the Provincial Assembly exactly one year ago on February 11, 2002. were fulfilled because the former martial law dictator General Zia-ul-Haq had banned the student union in the entire country on February 9, 1984 and now it has been 39 years since the ban and one year since the approval of the act for the restoration of this union in Sindh.

The approved Act was also signed by the Governor of Sindh on March 2, 2022. In this regard, “Express” contacted the Secretary of the Department of Universities and Boards Khir Rahimo about the obstacles in the implementation of the Act and the position of the Vice Chancellor in this regard. When we talked about it, he made it clear that regardless of one’s position, the student union has now become a law and the law will prevail. Will send to

In response to a question, Mureed Rahimo said that the students’ societies which the vice-chancellors are talking about, the same is the work of the students’ union, it is the responsibility of our society to stop political interference in educational institutions. It should be noted that among the meetings held regarding the implementation of the Students’ Union Act in Sindh, the first meeting was chaired by the Minister for Universities and Boards Ismail Raho, in which the immediate implementation of this Act was discussed in the universities.

The Vice-Chancellors of the universities were obliged to send their own proposals regarding the implementation procedure of the functioning of the student union, but when the proposals came from the universities, most of them implemented and functioned the student societies in the institutions. These societies are limited to extra-curricular activities as permitted by the university’s student affairs department and are governed by the university administration. Vigilance works, generally these societies are not formed as a result of elections but are formed through nominations.

On the other hand, a vice chancellor of Sindh told “Express” on the condition of not revealing his name that we have made it clear regarding the restoration of the student union in the meetings and other informal forums that it is political interference in government universities, defects. It will lead to a situation of peace and anxiety, now the situation is not like 1984, it is the era of social media and today’s youth thinks in a different way, earlier only the situation of the country affected the educational institutions through the union, now through social media. can have an impact on the global situation that no educational institution can afford.

It should be remembered that there are 27 public universities in Sindh while there are private universities in addition to this, while in the recent act of the student union, it has not been limited to public universities, but in the act, the word Educational institution and its description include universities and its affiliated institutions. Public and Private Sector Colleges are written while Universities also do not have the term Public and Private Sector.

The important thing is that, like in the past, in the recent act of the student union, the student union has been represented in the decision-making bodies of the universities, the syndicate, the senate and the boards, while it will also be represented in the protection committee established to prevent harassment in the universities. And the vice chancellors are against giving so much representation to the student union in the past.

A vice-chancellor also said that if the stakeholders had been consulted before the preparation of the Union Restoration Act, perhaps this act would not have taken this form and the issue of union restoration would not have been so complicated. It should be remembered that universities In its amendment act 2018, the representation of the student union was removed by the formation of the syndicate. This amendment act was also passed in the previous provincial government of the PPP after transferring the controlling authority of universities from the governor to the chief minister.