Students Protest Fee Hike at Karakoram University

Students of Gilgit's Karakoram International University (KIU) are unhappy over the unreasonable fee hike and staged a protest against it, reported Dawn.

KIU students on Friday staged a protest, blocking University Road for hours against fee hikes and administrative mismanagement.

They slammed the university administration for messing up its resources, and burdening the poor students by increasing the fee without providing them facilities, reported Dawn.

The protestors said that the university administration had suspended the admissions of many students and registered FIR against them for protesting for their rights.

Protesting students chanted slogans against the vice chancellor and the university administration, reported Dawn.

They said billions of rupees, provided by the federal government, Higher Education Commission and Gilgit Baltistan government to the university are being misused by the university administration.

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 at the university.

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.

Notably, KIU is the only public-sector university in the region, where more than 10,000 local students are enrolled.

The apathetic attitude of the local administration and the university officials has broken the hopes and aspirations of thousands of youngsters.