Body to Review Teachers’ Proposals
Karachi :September 13: The Sindh chief minister has formed a committee to review the recommendations made by university teachers across the province.
CM Qaim Ali Shah had directed the chief secretary to prepare a summary of recommendations for him to peruse. He assured the teachers that he would soon meet them.
The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) had prepared a draft underlining their reservations in the Sindh universities bill, which it hoped would be taken into account by the provincial government.
“We welcome the 18th amendment and devolution of powers to the provinces, but the new universities law has constricted the academic freedom of the varsities, and we fear that it will politicise the academic culture of the institutions in the province,” said Asad Abidi, the provincial president of FAPUASA, while speaking to the media at the University of Karachi on Thursday.
Abidi said a committee of teachers had consulted the charters of various universities from around the world and recommended a holistic range of amendments in the bill, which would help keep in check political influence and prevent it from tampering with the operation of universities.
The teachers said FAPUASA would raise a number of issues with the Sindh government, including the PhD allowance that differed from university to university. “It should be uniform, as the difference in allowance is discriminatory,” said Abidi.
He said the universities across the province were in dire need of funds, and if the provincial government did not come up with a bailout package for a number of universities, they would soon capitulate under debt. “The pension, provident fund, and the buildings of NED have been mortgaged for working capital; the university is in dire straits.”
The universities bill was tabled and passed in the Sindh Assembly on August 19. Under the law, the control of public sector universities has been transferred from the governor to the CM.
The law, which has now been turned into an act, has not only given full authority to the CM to appoint vice chancellors, registrars, controllers and other administrative staff, but it also empowers the provincial government to determine and shape the admission policy. Earlier, these powers were held by the syndicate senate at public varsities. Teachers in universities across the province have been protesting the provisions in the bill that limit the power of the senate and academic council.
They claim that blanket power to the CM would curtail the academic freedom of universities and politicise the institutions of higher learning.The news.
