Ali Nawaz Rahimoo
Let us not treat the enclosure of the Sindh Agriculture University’s Umerkot campus as an administrative inconvenience; it is a dire policy blunder with a recurring characteristic of denying educational institutions to our most disadvantaged districts. At the Press Club, the students of the Umerkot Campus have been leading protests, pleading for the administration to reopen their campus. Students who have already paid their fees and were anxiously awaiting the start of their university education were naturally taken aback by this sudden decision by the administration, which has left hundreds of students anxiously awaiting their academic future and career prospects; especially young students hailing from Umerkot, Tharparkar, and Sanghar districts which do not hold much opportunities for young people to pursue higher education.
The Umerkot campus caters not only to the students from Umerkot, but also to thousands from the Tharparkar and Sanghar districts and nearly 1500 students have been studying at the campus, many of them drawn from poor and lower-income backgrounds, so closing it down abruptly is indeed cause for major question regarding the University administration’s decision-making prowess.
Why on earth would a university administration decide to close down a campus immediately after its students have enrolled and paid the required fees? The students here have their future, aspirations, and goals in stake; they are the young generation from deprived rural backgrounds who would not be able to afford travelling to Hyderabad, Tandojam, Karachi and other major urban centers to pursue their higher education and build a future. Traveling and living far away is a much costlier option and many capable students from poor families forego their education due to expensive fare, boarding and living expenses. It is for these reasons that public sector universities and regional campuses become of vital importance.
Governments at all levels often talk about youth empowerment, job creation, agricultural development, and climate resilient societies but all such lofty goals could only be achieved if our grassroots level institutions receive due and dedicated support.
It’s high time for the administration to come out of its shell, review the decision, hear the concerns of its students, and immediately take steps to reopen the Umerkot Campus. A crucial and basic question the authorities must ask themselves and answer: If an agriculture campus cannot be run and sustained in an agriculture rich district, then where should the campuses of such an institution be set up? As students from the country are resuming classes in their universities, students of Sindh agriculture Campus., Umerkot’s only government university campus have remained closed since six months, leaving students’ higher education opportunities hanging in the balance.
