Students of Edwardes College set up protest camp

PESHAWAR: The protest drive by the students and teachers of the historic Edwardes College on Monday intensified when the students set up a protest camp with the pledge to continue it till implementation of the Peshawar High Court orders and removal of the college principal. The teachers and students of the college have been on protest for the past nearly two weeks. A complete class boycott is going on and academic activities in the college have been suspended. However, instead of implementing the court orders and addressing the concerns of the teaching staff and students of the college, the government has constituted a ‘controversial committee’ wherein membership has been given to such persons who are considered the very cause of the problem. The committee convened its maiden meeting on Monday. However, the details of the meeting could not be ascertained.The protesting teachers and students rejected the committee as biased. They alleged the root cause of all the problems in the college was the incumbent principal.“Nobody else, but the principal is responsible for the academic decay, financial corruption, misuse of power, nepotism in appointments and irregularities in administration in the college. But the worthy chief minister has made him a member of the committee that has been assigned the job to decide the fate of the institution,” stated one of the protesting teachers. Justice dispensation is not possible in such a situation, he added.The college teachers and students believed that the Peshawar High Court decision was very much clear, but the provincial government was using delaying tactics in implementing it, which, they believed, tantamount to contempt of court. They said Governor Shah Farman should immediately convene a meeting of the board of governors to make decisions in line with the court verdict.The teachers and students argued the court had restored the board of governors of the college, and thus all the unlawful decisions of the so-called parallel board formed by the principal stood void. They said the four-year tenure of the principal had already expired a year ago. Therefore, his continuation as principal of the college was not only illegal but a violation of the court decision.The teachers and students stressed that the only way to restore the academic excellence of the college, which was once the best educational institution of the province, and smoothen its administrative affairs was to remove the principal and ensure the early appointment of new principal purely on merit.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2PKjz0H