Words are mightier than the sword.
Ask the administrators of Bahria University Islamabad who
have expelled Arsalan Bilal from the
University for threatening staff members by forwarding a poem by Faiz Ahmed
Faiz. It appears irrelevant to the administrators that the same email was
forwarded to his friends, class fellows, and family members, yet Faiz’s poetry
is a reason good enough to warrant expulsion if a teacher is added to the
mailing list.
Bahria University has also declared Arsalan Bilal
“psychologically unstable”, even though they are no experts in psychiatry. If
so, the university appears to have set aside its responsibility towards student
welfare and supporting vulnerable members of its community and gone about
adding to his mental stress by deciding to expel him.
This should all sound very familiar. In April
2011, Professor Qamar Riaz Mahmitkhel was dismissed from Bahria University
for questioning the role of retired military officials and whether creativity
could flourish in a military style setup. The question was asked in a packed
auditorium and the response of the university’s administrators was for the
Director Campus Commodore (retired) Mohammad Ali and security personnel to grab
him by the collar and assault him. A 100 or so students subsequently protested
against his dismissal at which point Naval
Intelligence officials harassed the protestors and the administration
threatened them with expulsion.
Mr Bilal who also runs Insight News – Bahria University,
a Facebook page dedicated to news related to the institution, had also
questioned the role of ex-Naval officials and certain faculty members policies
in the university. He has been discouraged in pursuing his undergraduate
research in ‘Politicization of religion in Pakistan’ and faced discrimination
as he belongs to a minority sect.
As a result, Arsalan Bilal has gone on an indefinite hunger
strike before Bahria University Islamabad from the 6th of April.
When challenged, administrators usually explain their
actions by pointing to the greater good. For example, the case of women being
raped in International
Islamic University Islamabad was hushed up, as the administration wanted to
protect the reputation of the institution.
Universities in Pakistan, especially those of the Bahria
University variety have reduced higher education to an extension of secondary
school. The emphasis is on discipline, uniform, fines for poor attendance etc. What
is ignored, is the quality of teaching and the content of the curriculum,
emphasising rote learning and propaganda over thoughtful analysis and
evaluation. The incident involving a retired Brigadier who assaulted a lecturer in NUML
University for “daring” to “say something about the Army” comes to mind.
The fact is that HEC
regulations are not enforced and individuals without the prerequisite
qualifications are appointed in universities based on their affiliation with
either the military or the civilian bureaucracy is not only HEC’s failure to
enforce the law, our collective silence fails those students who study in these
institutions.
The fact is that despite HEC’s efforts, the quality of
Higher Education in Pakistan remains dismal. We are not producing mature,
analytical and creative individuals ready to take on the world. Some
universities are nothing more than over glorified finishing schools where 20
year olds are treated like children. The same administrators may send their own
children to foreign universities where they are no uniforms, no attendance and
the environment lacking any “discipline” of the variety they enforce on others.
Public universities cannot and must not be used as the post
retirement, cushy appointment for retired bureaucrats, whether military or civil.
I am sure there are many ex-military officials who can make excellent
contributions to learning in education, however, the variety that expels
students for raising questions and assaults teaching stuff have little to offer
apart from their massive egos.
Education is far too important to be left to individuals.
The key and most important stakeholders are and should be the students
themselves. The HEC has developed elaborate structures and layers of
bureaucracy that serves everyone but the students. Administrators are all
powerful whether in the private or the public sector. Teaching staff have
little or no job security and are subservient to the whims of administrators,
most of whom have no background in education.
If you believe that education is more than wearing uniforms
and wearing your tie
correctly then it’s important to support Arsalan Bilal in his protest. If
he is silenced then the status quo will remain unchanged and it will silence
anyone else who hopes to question the powers that be. Thousands upon thousands
of students will receive a poor education, undeserving for an individual in the
21st century.
A university student is old enough to join the military,
marry, drive, carry a weapon, yet university administrators seem hell bent on
treating them as children. Things must not continue as they are!
Update: Arsalan Bilal on Saach TV: http://saach.tv/2012/04/12/strike-for-justice-or-self-promotion/
Follow Arsalan Bilal on Twitter: @arsalanbilal
Update: Arsalan Bilal on Saach TV: http://saach.tv/2012/04/12/strike-for-justice-or-self-promotion/
Follow Arsalan Bilal on Twitter: @arsalanbilal
This post was originally published in the ET Blogs: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/11033/bahria-university-arsalan-bilals-hunger-for-justice/
A related post on Bahria University: http://liberalfacist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/misplaced-priorities-in-higher.html
It's unbelievable what students have to put up with. Great blogpost!
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