UET Mardan closed for indefinite period after students boycott exam

MARDAN: The University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Mardan, was closed on Monday for an indefinite period after hundreds of students boycotted the examination and protested inside the campus to press the authorities for accepting of their demands.

The university administration directed the students to vacate the hotels to avoid any untoward incident.Holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, a large number of students gathered at 7.30am and continued their protest till 10am.

The enraged students later staged a sit-in outside the Administration Block and chanted slogans against university high-ups.Talking to reporters, the students said the UET Mardan was a campus of UET Peshawar but the previous provincial government upgraded it to a full-fledged university some two months ago.

After its independence, they said, the university would now award degrees to students, which was not acceptable to them.“We want the UET Peshawar to award us degrees as we have paid fees for the same,” the students said.

They said that they had earlier also boycotted the classes for several weeks to lodge protest with the authorities concerned but they have turned a blind eye to the issue.“At that time, the university administration had promised of resolving the issue but later backed out,” a student complained.

The students claimed that there was a misunderstanding between the project director UET Mardan and the vice-chancellor UET Peshawar on the issue.The students later dispersed peacefully after the university high-ups assured that their demands would be met.

Project Director of the UET Mardan, Dr Imran, said that the UET Mardan had been upgraded to full-fledged university but the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was yet to issue a no-objection certificate (NCO).“The university administration considers the students demands genuine but they have no powers to solve the issue,” he added.

He believed that it was their legal and moral rights that they should be issued degrees by the UET Peshawar. “We have sent letters to UET Peshawar, HEC and Pakistan Engineering Council in this regard,” the official said.