The police prevented the teachers’ bus from reaching the CM House to join their colleagues who were protesting there. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The Sindh government, finally, gave in to demands made by university professors and teachers to amend the advertisement, which would have given the chief minister of Sindh the authority to appoint the registrars and examination controllers at 20 public-sector universities across the province.
After hours of waiting in the sun outside Chief Minister (CM) House in the city’s red zone, on Thursday, the teachers’ province-wide protest entered its fourth day. Regular classes and examinations at public varsities were boycotted once again as teachers prepared for a sit-in and demanded that the controversial provisions made to the Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2013, should be abolished.
The teachers have been in talks with the government for almost a week through the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (Fapuasa). They have been trying to remove the controversial clauses from the enactment that was unilaterally passed by the Sindh Assembly last year in August.
The deadlock continued, however, as the chief minister’s secretariat through an advertisement that invited applications under the new law for the posts of registrar, director finance and examinations controller at the public varsities.
“I congratulate all the university teachers whose unprecedented solidarity and support compelled the government to approve our primary demands,” said Fapuasa’s central president, Dr Waheed Chaudhry, as he returned to join his colleagues outside CM house after successful negotiations with the chief minister’s secretary for universities and education boards, Mumtaz Ali Shah.
While talking to The Express Tribune, Mumtaz Shah said that the advertisement that appeared in newspapers last Sunday was to be amended and a formal corrigendum will be published in next couple of days. He said that it will now be valid for the post of finance directors at the public-sector universities.
Dr Chaudhry was hopeful that the government and teachers would continue to discuss matter further. “One thing is for sure and the government officials have also agreed to it — no single entity has the absolute authority to decide on the universities’ academic and administrative affairs.”
He added that the delegation was successful in having the assurance of the chief minister’s secretary for acceptance of eight out of their 11 proposed amendments in the law. The draft of these amendments was earlier presented to provincial law minister, Sikandar Mandhro.
The teachers were also joined by some of their students at the protest, but the heavily deployed law enforcers restrained them along with a number of teachers at Karachi Press Club. More than a hundred teachers managed, however, to reach the protest venue.
Meanwhile, it was decided to call off the boycott and resume classes and exams from Friday. Teachers at KU, on the contrary, announced to observe the strike on Friday as well against the manhandling and illegal confinement of teachers at the press club for several hours. “The exams at the university will resume from Monday,” said KU teachers’ society president, Dr Syed Jameel Hassan Kazmi.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2014.
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I have the utmost respect and gratitude for the teachers.