Intern accuses IIUI teacher of slapping, abusing her

Varsity forms committee to probe matter, will take action based on findings

ISLAMABAD: An intern at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) has been verbally and physically abused by a teacher for allegedly disobeying orders.

After a written complaint was lodged, the varsity set up a committee to probe the matter.

The intern* had been working at the physics department of the female campus of IIUI under the National Internship Programme (NIP) a week ago.



On April 21, she had been tasked with arranging a teacher’s evaluation class by two faculty members in room number 321 of the department.

The intern said that she had subsequently arranged in the computer lab since the evaluation would be online.

During the class, the intern claimed, physics department teacher Dr Shaista Shahzada arrived at 12 pm. The teacher demanded that the room should be vacated since she wanted to hold a quiz there for her MSc second year students.

“As the teacher had no written proof of her pre-arranged class, I asked her to coordinate or confirm from the office,” claimed the intern, adding that the teacher instead started shouting and insulting her.

“Now you ignoble intern will tell me what to do,” the intern quoted the teacher as having said.  The two then exchanged harsh words before Dr Shahzada allegedly “slapped” the intern.

When the teacher was trying “to hit me again I stopped her but she dragged me out of the class saying that she will complain to the president about me,” the intern claimed.

After the intern filed a written complaint with the president of IIUI, a committee was formed to probe the incident.

Rector Masoom Yasinzai, while confirming that the varsity president had looked into the incident and had taken the faculty dean into confidence for the committee, said that the Dr Naveed Aqdas would supervise the probe.



In June 2015, the varsity had formed a committee to probe similar allegations of physical assault against two administrative staffers by the same teacher.

A report of that inquiry, available with The Express Tribune, reveals that the teacher had been found guilty of slapping the staffer and locking another in the room for not handing over keys to the lab.

“D. Shaista Shahzada had been maintaining strained relations with her colleague,” the report said as it recommended transferring her services to Department of Electronics Engineering.

*Name withheld to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2017.