Sindh govt approves restoring students' union bill

• A student union could be formed in every private and government educational institutes, per the bill.
• Students would be able to form a union with seven to 11 student members through elections every year.
• Student union will be represented in the institute's syndicate and will be included in the institute’s anti-harassment committee, per bill. 

After a gap of several years, the standing committee of the Sindh Assembly has approved the restoration of the student bill, Geo News reported Thursday.

A meeting of the standing committee recently took place under the chairmanship of Pir Mujeeb-ul-Haq, during which the proposed bill was restored and sent to the Assembly.

According to the bill, a student union could be formed in every private and government educational institute. The bill further stated that the enrolled students will be able to vote for the student union or take part in it.

The students would be able to form a union with seven to 11 student members through elections every year. The student union will be represented in the institute's syndicate and will be included in the institute’s anti-harassment committee, the bill said.

The educational institutes will decide the rules and regulations related to the union, two months after the bill is passed.

Talking to Geo News, Mujeeb-ul-Haq said that the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leadership is in favour of the union, adding that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the revival of the bill on the direction of PPP.

“The bill has been drafted on the special directions of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah with the help of committee members,” he said, adding that the opinions of other members regarding the bill were taken into consideration.

Mujeeb-u-Haq also said that the bill has been sent to the Assembly secretariat which will be presented in the next meeting. He hoped that the Assembly members would support the bill.