Daily Times

Behind the success of any country, educational institutions play a key role as they produce intellectual capital in the form of policymakers, thinkers and scientists. They should be the last place for any politician to come to hold a protest and start a verbal onslaught on opponents.

Even though GCU has banned politics inside the campus and opposed student bodies for being politically active, it allowed Imran Khan to visit GCU. This reeks of the hypocrisy that has long been destroying student bodies; expelling students who speak for their rights and above all, asking students to sign an application/form for not engaging in any sort of politics at the time of admission.

What’s more troubling is that the students have been effectively neutralised by the institution, which has previously tilted towards the left or progressive politics. They are brain-washed to the extent that they roared ” Diesel” with Imran Khan at the Oval Ground of GCU. While the students (in hundreds) were chanting abusive slogans, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution could be seen immensely happy and proud at the spectacle.

From students’ euphoric attitude and sloganeering, it is clear that the institution has been successful in removing critical thinking from its student bodies. Given this backward slide of GCU, it seems the institution, previously known for producing intellectuals and scholars, is on a fast track of deterioration and destruction. The main reason behind it is the politicisation at the hands of the administration.

If politics is so problematic, GCU should completely stop teaching political science to its students.

Interestingly, it didn’t happen all of a sudden. It was bound to happen as the institution was involved in expelling some of its brilliant professors, who it deemed were teaching students about their rights, values and the importance of actively participating in the political discourse of the country. To name a few, Ammar Ali Jan and Zagham Abbas – both professors of political science- were expelled from the institution for the same crime. When they were expelled, both the professors pointed out the fact that the administration of GCU is deeply polarised and politicised at the hands of higher-ups. Having been expelled, they portrayed a damning scenario for the future academic environment of the institution. They have been proved right today as the administration has come fully naked with its politicised agenda.

Both professors believe that it was mind-boggling how an institution that offers courses in political science could ban its students from taking part in political events and expressing their political opinions. How can an institution that bans students from doing politics, let politicians, such as Imran Khan, come and give a political speech on its main ground? It seems that the GCU is degenerating and decaying at the hands of hypocrisy, as its students can’t avoid politics while doing degrees in political science.

If politics is so problematic, GCU should completely stop teaching political science to its students. Else, it cannot ban students from being politically active for their rights while allowing politicians to use the ground of the college for political speeches. Apparently, it is not the politics that is problematic to the institution, but an active student body that can question its hypocrisy, corruption and double standards.

It is high time that the administration of the GCU understands that banning active student bodies is detrimental to the growth of both the students and the institution. To curb nepotism, corruption and other double standards, an active student body is needed as it puts the right questions over the intention of the institution in the face of political manoeuvring. Also, it establishes a purely academic environment where debate and engagement with the issues of national importance take the central position. In the future, such a student body can produce effective leaders who can challenge the partisan politics of Pakistan and put the whole country on the right track.

Else, Pakistan will be doomed with the politicisation of educational institutions. Instead of banning students from organising events on the politics of the country, the administration of GCU must ban politicians from using the grounds of the academy for political purposes. This will happen only when the administration itself becomes depoliticised and non-partisan.

Conclusively, it is an opportune moment for the government of Pakistan to ask the administration of GCU why it allowed the grounds of the college for the propagation of political agendas. Otherwise, it sets a bad precedent for the college and its academic environment. Above all, Pakistan cannot afford this to happen to its leading educational institution.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at They6776@gmail.com.