Bacha Khan University bars male and female students from 'sitting idle' together

[UN talkz]

Charsadda's Bacha Khan University administration sent out a notification earlier this month banning male students or employees from "idle sitting" or roaming with female students, a move which stirred a controversy on social media after the notification became public on Monday.

The notification, issued by the university's Chief Proctor Muhammad Shakeel, also imposed a ban on smoking, the use of chaadar, using the rooftops of campus buildings and ragging new students.

University spokesperson Saeed Khan, however, denied knowledge of any such notification while speaking to the media.

Dr Shakeel, on the other hand, defended the move while speaking to the media, DawnNews reported. He said that the decision had been taken in the larger interest of the students "as they waste a lot of their time roaming around the campus".

He strongly denied the notion that the university was being turned into a madrassah.

The university was forced to close in January 2016 for two weeks after an attack on its campus claimed over 20 lives.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1378779/b...nd-female-students-from-sitting-idle-together

 

[DW44]

Surprising it took so long considering the likes of FAST, one of the better universities in Pakistan and based in major cities at that (ISB/KHI/LHE/PEW), has had such a policy since at least 2006.

 

[King-Misbah]

This is very strange and such rules should be abolished. We are living in the modern era; such moves will deter the development of our youth imo.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Dr Shakeel, on the other hand, defended the move while speaking to the media, DawnNews reported. He said that the decision had been taken in the larger interest of the students "as they waste a lot of their time roaming around the campus".

Don't these administrators have better things to worry about? What is the big harm of roaming around idly around the campus? Also don't understand the use of chadar, what is that about?

 

[DW44]

This is very strange and such rules should be abolished. We are living in the modern era; such moves will deter the development of our youth imo.

Unfortunately, the world doesn't work in such a way that people can have their cake and eat it too. When you center your society around religion, you go all in with very little wiggle room to pick and choose in such matters. Public reaction to this move has been overwhelmingly positive and attempts to reverse it will be met with resistance on top of accusations of pandering to a liberal agenda which will be career suicide for whoever ends up being held responsible.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Don't these administrators have better things to worry about? What is the big harm of roaming around idly around the campus? Also don't understand the use of chadar, what is that about?

Also rigging/fooling with new students? What is this lol.

Strange move to ban male/female students sitting together, why not just have a single sex uni then?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Why is chadar banned?Or is it not the chadar i assume it to be?

 

[CricketCartoons]

Looks like the University is against students dating inside the campus or near classrooms, library etc. They could have worded it better (if that was indeed the problem). During my college days, the library and the various departments were misused by couples, and we single guys would get disturbed as we only wanted to study.

 

[Pakistanian]

Only in the subcontinent where people feel entitled to tell adults how to live their life.

 

[Pakistanian]

Also rigging/fooling with new students? What is this lol.

Strange move to ban male/female students sitting together, why not just have a single sex uni then?

Lol maybe they're trying to promote homosexuality.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Looks like the University is against students dating inside the campus or near classrooms, library etc. They could have worded it better (if that was indeed the problem). During my college days, the library and the various departments were misused by couples, and we single guys would get disturbed as we only wanted to study.

Then it would probably be better to spit it out and say exactly what the problem is and what is allowed and what isn't. Very difficult for me to understand what they mean by roaming idly around campus. If they don't allow student dating, would be pretty easy to state it clearly I would have thought.

 

[Varun]

Then it would probably be better to spit it out and say exactly what the problem is and what is allowed and what isn't. Very difficult for me to understand what they mean by roaming idly around campus. If they don't allow student dating, would be pretty easy to state it clearly I would have thought.

They're probably queasy to spell it out in those terms. Trying to pretend the "problem" doesn't exist while promoting moves against it.

 

[big_gamer007]

Hahaha sitting idle together..So a guy and a girl can’t be friend? I mean it’s not only couples who spend idle time together you can be friends across gender as well..

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Absurd stuff

Even University's name sounds like a trolling attempt

'Bacha Khan' as in Kid Khan?

 

[Varun]

Absurd stuff

Even University's name sounds like a trolling attempt

'Bacha Khan' as in Kid Khan?

A simple Wiki search reveals:

Khān Abdul Ghaffār Khān (6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988) (Pashto: خان عبدالغفار خان‎), nicknamed Bādshāh Khān or Bāchā Khān (Pashto: باچا خان, lit. "king of chiefs"), was a Pashtun independence activist against the rule of the British Raj. He was a political and spiritual leader known for his nonviolent opposition, and a lifelong pacifist and devout Muslim.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

A simple Wiki search reveals:

Damn. Thanks for the Wikipedia quote.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

They university should focus on providing good education instead of dictating how students spend their free time.As long as moral standards aren’t violated,it’s fine.

 

[CricketCartoons]

They university should focus on providing good education instead of dictating how students spend their free time.As long as moral standards aren’t violated,it’s fine.

It is also university's duty to make sure there is good environment in the campus which encourages students to focus on academics. If there is an epidemic of smokers and casual daters who enroll in the university only to treat the campus as their honeymoon destination, then it has every right to discipline them.

 

[Pakistanian]

Absurd stuff

Even University's name sounds like a trolling attempt

'Bacha Khan' as in Kid Khan?

Bacha is Pashto for King, bacha khan was an actual person.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

It is also university's duty to make sure there is good environment in the campus which encourages students to focus on academics. If there is an epidemic of smokers and casual daters who enroll in the university only to treat the campus as their honeymoon destination, then it has every right to discipline them.

Smoking shoukd not be allowed on campus.I was talking primarily about the issue of men and women not being allowed to sit together.I said that moral standards should not be violated.But then again I guess in Pakistan(especially in a more conservative area like KPK) moral standards are abnormally high.

 

[kaayal]

What is meant by chadar? For what it is used?

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

It is also university's duty to make sure there is good environment in the campus which encourages students to focus on academics. If there is an epidemic of smokers and casual daters who enroll in the university only to treat the campus as their honeymoon destination, then it has every right to discipline them.

You are right, and the university should have no problem in spelling it out quite clearly instead of dancing round it like many of the posters here are doing in an attempt to come across as reasonable and forward looking.

 

[MenInG]

Cultural sensitivities of KpK need to be understood

 

[DW44]

Cultural sensitivities of KpK need to be understood

They do not need to be "understood". They need to be challenged. Besides, this is not limited or even unique to KPK. Universities across the country, including but not limited to NUST and FAST (two of the best in the country), have had such policies for years. Cultural relativism simply emboldens practitioners of outdated, often barbaric, cultural practices to go about business as usual which is not the desired outcome here by any means unless we want this nonsense to spread further which, bet your bottom dollar, it already is and will further.

 

[Pakistanian]

Cultural sensitivities of KpK need to be understood

Nope, you don't give in to bigotry. There are people in the american south who believe blacks and whites should be segregated and that jim crow laws should be brought back, if america had never challenged their sensitivities then we would never have gotten rid of segregation. Also I think that's a generalization of the pashtun people by assuming they're mostly conservative.

 

[MenInG]

Nope, you don't give in to bigotry. There are people in the american south who believe blacks and whites should be segregated and that jim crow laws should be brought back, if america had never challenged their sensitivities then we would never have gotten rid of segregation. Also I think that's a generalization of the pashtun people by assuming they're mostly conservative.

huge difference.

 

[Pakistanian]

huge difference.

It's not a huge difference. Giving in to bigotry is what will keep Pakistan backwards.

 

[DW44]

huge difference.

How so? How is a cultural practice like, say, Swara (trading women, usually minor girls, to settle disputes), any less unconscionable than the racism that is part of the culture in the American South?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Cultural sensitivities of KpK need to be understood

Chadar is kya masla hai?