SBBWU students concerned over teaching quality, teachers’ attitude to exams and paper-checking

PESHAWAR: Students of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University (SBBWU) Peshawar and their parents have expressed concern over the quality of teaching, their teachers’ attitude to exams and paper-checking style and other teething issues.

They claim that the university administration has miserably failed to come up to the expectations of students and the people of the province since its establishment in 2005.

The varsity students said their teachers have focused time and energies on improving their own academic qualifications and getting MPhils and PhDs for onward promotion instead of focusing attention on their teaching and education of their students.

The very aim of establishing a university exclusively for women students in the provincial capital was to provide an opportunity for parents, who are hesitant to send daughters to co-education, to have higher studies of their daughters continued.

However, some parents argued that the university earned a bad reputation during the last 17 years of its existence owing to alleged professional dishonesty, poor teaching, and reported violation of merit, forcing them to stop enrolling their daughters in the university.

Some students were specifically critical of the reported mess created by the examination section, registrar and faculty of the university.

They complained of being taunted and humiliated by teachers and administrative staff of the university.

Most of such complaints were received from the department of political science, where the students have to suffer at the hands of their own teachers.

A student from the same department told The News that one of the teachers used to insult students during class.

“Why have you come here? Why don’t you go away and get married and produce children? We have to listen to such remarks during class, which are extremely insulting,” said a student of the political science department.

There is a general shortage of teachers in the university, a student remarked.

The students are seen running after teachers requesting them to come to class and they remain the least concerned to teach them, complained another student.

Also, perhaps the teachers have some psychological issues or something else. They deliberately give poor marks or low-grade point average (GPA) to ruin their future as they would be unable to compete with graduates of other institutions in future. Similarly, a good number of students are expelled from the university in the initial four semesters on account of poor results, the students alleged.

The reasons for the mass dropout from the university could never be looked into.

Only from the BS political science (session 2017-2021), 13 students of the 25-member class left studies incomplete owing to the alleged attitude of the faculty member, an official of the university confided.

An official told this reporter that the students, who failed to qualify the majority of their papers till the fourth semester, were expelled from the university.

There are other indicators for performance assessment of teachers and students but the prime reason to strike off the rolls is students’ failure in most of the papers in the first four semesters, the official said.

“When the teachers and other faculty members are preoccupied with improving own grades and working only for raising their perks and privileges, how can the students perform good or average in the examinations,” said a parent, whose daughter was struck off the rolls allegedly because of weak performance in the examination.

Sources said the examination section and the political science department have become the hub of shenanigans, which are proving detrimental to the future of the students.

“It is a pity that a girl, who garners the courage in this conservative society, to go to a university and receive education, is forced to say adieu to her studies just because of the professional dishonesty and haughtiness of teachers and other staff members,” a parent said.

A number of students said male teachers visit some departments to teach which makes students uncomfortable.

When reached for comments on the university affairs, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof Dr Safia Ahmad told The News that it has been only a month since her joining the office.

She said she has been thoroughly observing things and has held meetings with students, teachers and officials in the administration to get familiar with different issues at the university.

The vice-chancellor endorsed that staff at the university was less due to which visiting teachers had to be arranged.

About poor marking and awarding low GPA to students, she said that there was no such issue.

“I have been signing degrees for a month after my joining the university and I have observed that students have got excellent grades up to 3.9 GPA,” she said.

“Dropouts are there. But they are not because of low marks or failures. There are other issues which contribute to students’ dropouts. The prime issue among them is the limited hostel facility,” she argued.

Prof Dr Safia Ahmad said that the university has a high rate of enrollment. In some departments, even classrooms become short for the increased number of students. So, it was not true that parents have started thinking to stop sending their daughters to university.

She said that students had a keen interest in their studies and more facilities would be made available to them. The vice-chancellor said that she was planning to launch an assessment of teachers and students, which will help them know shortcomings in teaching. Efforts would be made to overcome those shortcomings, she pledged.

She said that one of the main problems of the university was a lack of faculty, especially at the senior level.

“The available faculty consists mostly of lecturers and some assistant professors. The number of associate professors and professors in the university is negligible. This is a real issue, which needs an early solution,” she said.

About male staff, she said some male staff is required at every institution. However, the female officers working as deputy and assistant registrars, treasurers and other offices were doing a tremendous job.

Dr Safia Ahmad pledged to resolve all the problems faced by students and other stakeholders in the university at the earliest so that the university could become the best institution in the province among all general universities.