LOWER DIR: Dozens of veiled female students from Government Girls Degree College Jandol along with their families demonstrated against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday for failing to fill the open positions at the institution.

Carrying placards, the protesting students blocked the Munda Samarbagh road while chanting slogans against the local lawmakers and authorities concerned for ignoring the issue.

They informed local journalists that the lone females’ degree institution in the region, which was spread across the two tehsils of Munda and Samarbagh, lacked basic amenities.

Only six lecturers and a principal were accessible out of the 25 posts of professors and lecturers for hundreds of female students, according to Ms Javeria, a BS student, while the remaining positions had been unfilled for years.

She claimed that there was a lack of electricity, clean drinking water, and seating amenities. According to Habibur Rahim, a local lawyer, hundreds of female students’ future was at stake. He claimed that the KP government’s assertion of an educational emergency was merely a political catchphrase because it was untrue in practice.

The students’ protest caused the main road to be closed for several hours. To address the problems, the demonstrators proclaimed a sit-in and chanted anti-government slogans.

They called for the provision of teaching staff, transportation, clean drinking water, basic amenities, and threatened to close the college if their demands were not met. The students’ demonstration was also attended by local political and social leaders, including Hameedullah Mashwani, Waheed Khan Tajik, Shaukat Ali Shah, and others.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024