Gilgit Baltistan (PoK), Sept 25 : Students and their parents protested against the unreasonable fee hike at the Karakoram International University in Gilgit.
Students seeking higher education resented the alleged fee hike in the university tuition fee to the tune of 134-150 per cent. A parent standing in solidarity with thousands of students said, “The whole region is crushed under inflation. The poor strata are breaking under the high prices. There is a two-fold increase in the prices. The students and people here are victims of a double whammy. In this scenario, increasing fees to the tune of 134-150 per cent is a stark attempt to crush the students and their parents and deprive students of education.”
Amid skyrocketing inflation and the absence of other higher education institutions in the region, the students have no other option but to continue their studies in the university.
While, the university representatives are allegedly trying to brush the matter under the carpet. The student demonstrators believe Islamabad has cut the budget allocation for higher education and the Karakoram university has raised the tuition fee under this pretence.
The impoverished region of Gilgit Baltistan has only a few higher education institutions—the unprecedented fee hike has certainly dashed all hopes of students and their parents to the ground.
The parents and the students blame the local administration for deploying force to subvert their movement against the ruling dispensation and the university. A demonstrator and a parent raising voice against the excessive fee hike said, “whenever students and their impoverished parents raise their voice against the persecution of the administration, the government, the forces put barriers and try to jail them despite no charges. Has any government or the administrative body brought a corrupt officer, or any miscreant behind the bars? They have given them free rein!”
Apart from the administration the students also blame the university’s vice chancellor who they accuse of wallowing in the luxury despite knowing the situation of the Karakoram University.
The apathetic attitude of the local administration and the university officials has broken the hopes and aspirations of thousands of youngsters.
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