Saving Autonomy: Pro-VC appointment leads to boycott

HYDERABAD: The Sindh University Teachers Association (Suta) observed a teaching boycott on Wednesday to protest the appointment of Dr Imdad Ismaili as pro-vice-chancellor of the main campus. Suta president Dr Arfana Mallah said the protest was part of their continuing opposition to appointments made under the Sindh Universities Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. “Today, the teachers wore black arm bands and boycotted the classes. Tomorrow, we will observe a black day and hold a demonstration,” she informed. However, the Sindh chapter leader of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association, Dr Ayaz Keerio who also belongs to the SU, has supported Dr Ismaili’s appointment. He claimed in a press release that Suta failed to enforce an effective boycott of the classes on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Karachi University Teachers Society (Kuts) also supported Suta. “[Teachers] at Karachi University are condemn the direct intervention of the chief minister secretariat in the autonomy of the universities in Sindh,” said the statement issued by Kuts on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2016.