Sangat Baloch
“See that building over there Arif, it’s being built from your money.” Fits of laughter broke out between our group on this private joke.
The place that my friend pointed was the building under construction at University of Balochistan (UOB), Quetta and the money he referred was the amount of exaggerated fees that Arif had paid in the recent past for his papers.
This friend opted field of B.Com and went to Commerce College Sariab Road, Quetta. When he failed in his exams and appeared in supplementary exams he had to pay 4,700 rupees for each year which made a total of 9,400 rupees not having any other option he asked for some loans from friends and with a great effort took some money from his family to pay the examination fees.
When your father is the only person who works and is a driver, things will start looking really harsh when fees of UOB Increase
The cost may look somewhat normal to some people but belonging to a poor family when your father is the only person who works and is a driver, things will start looking really harsh.
Somehow when he managed to go through the exams and pass one subject he had to pay 4,000 again for the remaining paper!
The recent hikes in examination fees by UOB have taken their toll on students like Arif who was shocked to learn that unlike in the past when one who had failed in a single paper had to pay some 700 rupees will have to pay the complete fee now i.e. 4700 rupees for a single paper!
Now either you pay this amount to sit in exams or you let your previous efforts and money go all in vain to get a Bachelor’s degree.
In 2015, when I submitted my forms for B.A exams as a private candidate, I had to pay 1,000 rupees for registration and 4,700 for examination fees which made a total of 5,700 rupees.
Anybody who failed to pass even a single paper would have to pay 4,700 for appearing again.
When the results were announced some 75% students failed in at least one of the papers sending a shockwave through the students because unlike in the past most of people appearing failed.
Many people believe that UOB deliberately fails students to mint money from them, who have no other option but to reappear again
Some friends of mine who failed, faced a hard time arranging the fees as neither they nor their families who supported them, financially expected these sort of results.
Many people like me believed that university was doing this deliberately to mint money from students who had no other option but appearing again.
If all that was not enough this year they decided to increase the fees again. The registration process which was increased by 100 rupees this year and the examination fees by 700 totaling 6,500 rupees making it a total increase of 14%.
Keeping in mind that Balochistan is the least developed province which ranks the lowest in realm of education, according to a report by Alif Ailan, these moves by university not only create hurdles for students belonging to poor segments of society but also discourage them systematically from studying further.
These needs to be stopped once and for all, examination fees should be lowered so that the vast majority could afford and nobody lacks a fair chance of studies.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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