PHOTO: EXPRESS
HYDERABAD: The executive council of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (Fapuasa) accused on Monday the provincial government of violating the autonomy of higher education institutions.
At a press briefing after a meeting of the council at Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) in Hyderabad, the association blamed the government for ignoring the statutory bodies, such as syndicate and senates of universities. "The [government's] ad hoc arrangements serve no purpose other than allowing exploitation, corruption, nepotism and other social evils," said Fapuasa's Sindh secretary-general, Dr Shakeel Farooqi. He termed the vice-chancellors, pro vice-chancellors and other top officials employed in the varsities on temporary or contractual basis as 'very harmful' for the institutions.
Fapuasa's Sindh president, Prof Dr Shahnawaz Talpur, reiterated criticism over the Sindh Universities Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, contending that it brought the universities under the provincial bureaucracy's control. The association launched a protest movement in reaction to the 2013 Act, asking the government to amend the bill, after incorporating the association's recommendations for complete autonomy. The subsequent use by Sindh government of the authority of appointing top administrative officials, as enshrined under the Act, also drew stiff reactions.
The meeting castigated the alleged intention of the Sindh government to curtail the university teachers' representation in the syndicate, which is a statutory body. Fapuasa also expressed its disappointment over delay in making the provincial Higher Education Commission functional.
Dr Usman Ali Shah from NED University, Prof Naimatullah Laghari of SAU, Prof Arfana Mallah of Sindh University and Dr Aslam Pervez Memon of Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah attended the meeting among other representatives.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2016.
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