KARACHI: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has directed all the universities to keep a ‘distance’ from celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi on campuses, saying that a university’s celebration of Hindu festival had “caused concern and disadvantageously affected the country’s image”.
It is pertinent to mention here that the students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) celebrated Holi on June 13 at around 4 pm.
The festival was organised by the Mehran Students Council (MSC) while five other students councils, including Punjab Students Council, Pashtoon Students Council, Siraiki Students Council, Baloch Students Council and Gilgit Student Council, participated in the festival that was organised by the parking area located between International Relations and Anthropology departments.
The commission made the remarks in a letter, dated June 20, sent by HEC Executive Director Shaista Sohail to vice chancellors and heads of institutions.
the HEC said: “The higher education institutions may prudently distance themselves from all such activities obviously incompatible with the country’s identity and societal values, while ensuring that they rigorously engage their students and faculty in academic pursuits, intellectual debates and cognitive learning besides identifying, creating and fostering avenues for extra-curricular activities and rational discourse.”
According to the letter, higher education institutions (HEIs) are in charge of distributing information and are crucial for changing young people into “cultured individuals” as well as for producing a workforce with the necessary skill set for the needs of the nation.
According to the document, HEIs have the “ultimate responsibility to polish and nurture the exuberance of youth into learned, mature, and responsible citizens—ready to take on the country’s reins and play their role in nation building.”
