Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: The Gomal University in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently fined two of its students for listening to loud music in the teaching area of the varsity campus.
According to Geo News, the university located in Dera Ismail Khan, imposed a fine of Pakistani Rs 5,000 fine on two students of its Institute of Computing and Information Technology (ICIT) Department on Friday.
Chairman of the ICIT Department, Zia Ud Din, said the two students had been playing music on a Bluetooth speaker in a teaching area of the varsity.
He added that their action “disturbed the classes ongoing in the department at the time”.
“Both students were warned multiple times to stop [the music] and were fined when they did not [pay] heed to the requests,” the chairman was quoted as saying.
He added that the speaker was also confiscated from the students.
One of the students, who was fined, was enrolled in a master’s programme in the department, while the other is studying for his undergraduate degree.
Gomal University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, while confirming the incident, said that “music that disturbs the educational environment” is banned in the university.
He added that the administration does not have any issues if someone is listening to music without disturbing others.
Speaking on the fine, the Gomal University Vice-Chancellor clarified that the administration has only banned smoking, drugs, and political activity in the varsity.
Taking to Twitter, people expressed anger at the varsity for imposing the fine.
This the second time this month that a university in Pakistan has faced backlash on the internet over controversial decisions.
Last week, a video of a female student proposing to her university mate within the University of Lahore premises had taken Twitter by storm, following which both the students were expelled.