Taking to the streets

Gordon College students, faculty protest privatisation of their institute

The students and the faculty members of Gordon College have started a series of protest demonstrations against the privatisation process of their college.

They are demanding that the government stop the documentation process of the college changing hands till a petition in the apex court is decided. The petition seeks a reversal of the judgment of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench.

The recent verdict of the High Court Rawalpindi Bench has paved the way to hand over the college to Presbyterian Church.

Gordon College has a rich history which can be traced back to 1856 when Christian Grammar High School was established in Raja Bazaar.

In 1893, it was converted into a college and was named after the American Presbyterian Mission head, Andrew Gordon.

After the partition of India in 1947, it was outside the city area; with an increasing population, the college is now surrounded by commercial and official buildings. Originally, it was founded as a private, Christian-affiliated institution and was the only college functioning in the city of Rawalpindi.

However, the students and faculty members have been staging a series of protest demonstrations outside Rawalpindi Press Club in which they also blocked both sides of Murree Road.

They are of the view that the Higher Education Department (HED) of the Punjab government should stop the assessment procedure of the properties and assets of the college which they believe is being done to hand over the college to United Presbyterian Church after losing a lawsuit against it in the LHC Rawalpindi Bench.

They are of the view that a petition has already been filed in the apex court against the judgment of the high court and so statuesque should be maintained till the matter is decided by the superior court.

The LHC Rawalpindi Bench had upheld the judgment of the subordinate judiciary in which a property suit was ordered in the favour of Sialkot Mission.

Meanwhile, the Sialkot Mission was of the view that under the Martial Law Regulations of 1972, only the management and administration of Gordon College were transferred to the management and not the properties. Afterwards, the Higher Education Department and the principal of Gordon College along with another party filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the verdict of the high court which is yet to be heard.

They are of the view that the Higher Education Department has started the assessment and verification of the properties owned by Gordon College so that they could be handed over to the party which has won the lawsuit in the high court.

According to them, there is ‘so much haste’ over this matter by the department when a petition has also been filed against the judgment in the apex court. President of the Local Chapter of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA), Khurram Shahzad told Bol News that the judgment by the high court in this connection was passed on June 10 this year.

He added that Sialkot Mission was initially a party in this case but later on Presbyterian Church joined in to become a party. This is the same mission which now runs the operation of Foreman Christian (FC) College. “The students and faculty members believe that after handing over the administration to the Presbyterian Church, many issues could arise for them.”

He further said that currently, the students of Gordon College for intermediate classes are being charged Rs2,500 per annum while FC College which has been awarded the status of the university as well charges Rs160,000 for the same classes from its students. Likewise, he said the fee structure of Gordon College is altogether very different compared with FC College. He revealed that it charges only around Rs7,000 per semester for BS classes while FC is charging around Rs400,000 per semester from its students.

“A degree of BS costs around three million rupees from FC College while the fees at Gordon College are negligible comparatively,” he elaborated.

The Higher Education Department has started an assessment of the properties and assets owned by the college so that it could hand over its administration to the Presbyterian Church. He remarked that the department must wait for the verdict of the apex court in this connection before starting the documentation process to hand it over to another party.

“The faculty members and the students have also decided to become a party in this case and currently they are in the process to hire the services of some known lawyer.” There is also a distrust amongst the students and the faculty members over the handling of the matters by the Higher Education Department in this reference.

“We have decided to become a party in the case in the backdrop of what would happen if HED withdraws its petition from the Supreme Court,” he said.

Muavia Malik who is Nazim of Islami Jamiat-e-Talba of Government College Zones stated that there is unrest amongst the students over the recent developments.

He said there are only a few public sector colleges left in Rawalpindi and Gordon College is ‘one of them.’ He further said that currently, students from a ‘humble’ background may also acquire education from Gordon College. “But now, they aren’t sure as to what would be their fate of them after these developments.”

He added that the students of it can’t afford the fee structures which are being charged to the students of FC College. He commented that if there is a question on the land of Gordon College, then the government should negotiate it and allocate land to the opponent party somewhere else so that this issue could be resolved.

“There are around 3,500 students and around 100 faculty members who are currently associated with the college. The students and the faculty members would continue to protest till the issue is resolved permanently.”

He revealed that the protestors may also protest in front of the US Embassy to highlight their reservations if they are left with no other option.

On the other hand, the Director HED Shair Ahmad Satti claimed that Gordon College still is owned by the Punjab Government and there is no proposal under consideration to hand it over to someone else. “The students and faculty members are right when they say that let this matter be decided by the apex court and the process of privatisation shouldn’t be started.”

He added, “I just spoke to the Additional Secretary HED and he assured me that there is no matter under consideration to hand over it to the mission. Litigation on it has been in process for the last 40 years. This isn’t an easy thing to hand over to someone else within a few minutes.”

Gordon College is the best college of the Punjab Government which is owned by it and it will continue to be owned by it,” he remarked.

He also said no notification has been issued yet by the government and nor has he received any direction from it in this reference.

He claimed that he will talk to the management of the college and tell them that there is no reason to develop resentment over the matter.

“There should be no wastage of time of the students by protesting; they should take their classes as they were before these recent developments.”

Meanwhile, according to some media reports, the representative of the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan is of the view that they will not increase the fees of students of Gordon College and they will also not sack any teacher from the job.

The Church representative stated that the college would be given the status of a university and it would be made an exemplary academic institute. He was of the view that they want to restore the prestige of Gordon College as they did so in the case of FC College.