It has been a month since the students of Mewat Engineering College (Waqf) have been protesting over deteriorating infrastructure including unsafe hostel conditions, and inadequate academic facilities including faculty shortage. Located in Palla village, in the Nuh district of Haryana, the college students, along with the teaching and non-teaching staff, are protesting over unpaid salaries and pending promotions. Two students reportedly, on 2 November, began a 72-hour hunger strike, but the administration of Haryana Waqf Board and the state ruling party remain completely silent.
Under the vision of providing technical education to students from all communities, specifically Muslim minority students in Mewat, the college was established in 2010 by the Haryana Waqf Board.
Currently, around 744 students belonging to 15 states are studying in five engineering disciplines. Approximately 150 students living in the hostel alleged that the walls are cracked, the plaster is crumbling, and iron rods are exposed, requiring immediate repair and maintenance for safety purposes. They are protesting because, 16 years after its establishment, the college is unable to provide even the most basic conditions for quality education.
The student has shared a 16-point charter of their demands which includes more faculty members, a dedicated training and placement officer, upgraded laboratories, smart classrooms, functional teaching equipment, essential books, updated library resources, CCTV cameras, Wi-Fi facilities in the college and hostels, a 500-seat auditorium, better sports facilities, a gym, playgrounds, monthly industrial visits and cultural activities.
To create a more hygienic, healthier, and friendlier atmosphere in the college and hostels, they demand clean water, hygienic canteen, healthy food, washing machines for the boys’ and girls’ hostels, a common room, round-the-clock medical facilities and transportation services. Due to the absence of adequate academic, research, and practical facilities, they seek research facilities, laboratories, practical and training supports, entrepreneurship and incubation, along with a mechanism to resolve examination results and degree-related problems at the college level. These are essential parts of an engineering student’s education.
A protest that goes beyond students
The teaching and non-teaching staff also have their 14-point charter, which includes demands concerning salaries and pay scales, including the regularisation of contractual employees, timely and fair monthly salaries, an increase in guest faculty honorarium to Rs. 1,500 per lecture, subject to a monthly limit of Rs. 50,000, medical reimbursement, children’s education allowance, leave travel concession and a special allowance for employees working in the Mewat region. When teachers struggle for fair pay and job security, the consequences inevitably reach the classroom. They are protesting for the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission, with applicable Dearness Allowance and arrears, annual increments and promotions for regular teaching staff as per AICTE norms.
They have also raised concerns about DA reportedly remaining unpaid since 2018, while, on the other hand, teachers have been working without promotions or increments for around 15 years. Subsequently, in a letter to the Haryana government on 6 October, Aftab Ahmed, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Nuh area, highlighted the protesting employees’ concerns to the government.
Questions for the Waqf Board
Chaudhary Zakir Hussain, the administrator of the Haryana Waqf Board, responded to the demands in a statement reported by The Tribune on October 17, stating that approximately Rs. 62 crore had been spent on the college; the hostel buildings were not unsafe; and the cracks were due to the poor construction. Regarding maintenance and repairs, he stated that Rs. 8 lakh had been released and Rs. 80 lakh had been allocated to clear the three months of pending staff salaries.
On October 19, students and teachers marched to the Nuh mini-secretariat and submitted a memorandum, demanding that the college be included under the Central Waqf Board or to be transferred to the Haryana government. They alleged that the college’s governing body has not held any single meeting since 2018.
Kaif (name changed) a second-year Computer Science and Engineering student, told FoEJ Media although the protest had continued for a month and two students were also on hunger strike, the earlier meeting with the administration had failed to produce a resolution to the issues they were protesting over. He also alleged that the administration intended to close the college to take control of its land, worth Rs. 300 crore, and explained that its administrator, Chaudhary Zakir Hussain, had previously been found involved in the occupation of Waqf properties. The allegations have not been Independently verified.
Is education becoming another site of marginalisation?
The situation at “Mewat Engineering College” raises a fundamental question about the Waqf Board’s intention, the state’s neglect, and the deep slumber of the Muslim community as a whole. The college was established in a region where higher education was a major issue. It was built specifically to enable Muslim students to access higher education and play a significant role in nation-building.
However, even after a decade, it struggles to provide basic infrastructure, quality education, and career-building opportunities.
The Haryana government, alongwith Waqf Board, should approach protesting students, talk to them, and resolve the issues they are protesting over. They built an institution in 2010; now, they should develop it with advanced facilities to provide students with access to nation-building opportunities, because the students at Mewat Engineering College deserve the exact same access and quality of education as students elsewhere in the country.
The students have sought the intervention of Haryana Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini, to resolve the issue, but the continued protest presents a picture of the students’ unfulfilled demands. They have appealed to students from Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University to support their cause and raise their voices for them. They want activists to be a part of their protest and fight for education and against inequality.
What is happening at Mewat Engineering College (Waqf) is more than just neglect. It raises serious questions about the place of Muslim education, the state’s neglect and the Waqf Board’s intention. The institution was envisioned to provide engineering education to students in the region, employment avenues and career opportunities, but, sixteen years on, it appears inadequate to fulfil the promises on which it was built. When such an institution left students to struggle even for basic requirements, it affects not only their education, but also their representation. Weakening such an institution is weakening the Muslim representation. The students; demands deserve more than assurances; they deserve accountability, action and resolution.
