(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Female students in western Saudi Arabia have protested against discrimination and injustice in admission procedures of their university.
A number of female students gathered outside King Abdulaziz University in the western city of Jeddah on Saturday to protest refusals by university officials to grant them admission.
The students accused the officials of discrimination in the selection of high school graduates for various university programs. They broke doors and poured into the administrative offices. Saudi Minister of Higher Education Khaled al-Anqari played down the protest gathering by the female students and called it a “rush.” The minister asked the girls and their parents to be patient. “University officials are striving to provide the programs chosen by the applicants,” al-Anqari said. Similar protests have recently been held in universities in the capital Riyadh and the southwestern city of Abha. There have also been reports of protests in the Umm al-Qura University in Mecca and Taibah University in Medina. Most of the protesting students complain that the admission procedures are “unfair” and “favoritism” plays a major role in obtaining a university seat. However, university officials deny any wrongdoing and say they have followed “a first-come first-served policy.”
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