Out of work young scholars want jobs

Set July 20 deadline to meet their demands


Our Correspondent July 04, 2017
Set July 20 deadline to meet their demands. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Young scholars, who have been unemployed despite securing high educational qualification have censured the government and other state institutions for not creating sufficient jobs for them.

To highlight their sufferings, doctors of philosophy (PhD) who had graduated under the Higher Education Commissions’ (HEC) scholarship programme, staged a protest in front of the National Press Club on Monday under the banner of the newly formed PhD Doctors Association (PDA).

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The association claims to have over 400 young PhD scholars as their members, including five who have obtained their doctorates from abroad.

The scholars held banners inscribed with messages such as “the hardest work in the world is being out of work” and “unemployment is of vital importance particularly to the unemployed”.

They also chanted slogans such as “we want jobs” and demanded that the government and the apex court to help create permanent jobs for them. The protesters claim to have completed PhDs in physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, and economics.

They were of the view that while billions of rupees were spent on their studies, there was no planning or programme to create jobs for the scholars either by the HEC or by the government.

“Around 30 to 40 per cent of positions are lying vacant in universities, but the fresh graduates are not being accommodated,” complained Dr Faheem Khan, a protesting scholar.

“The HEC has been spending Rs5 million to Rs6 million on indigenous scholars and around Rs8 million to Rs10 million on foreign scholars, but there is no programme to create jobs for them,” he continued.

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Dr Sher Afzal said that the HEC should ensure universities announce faculty positions while abandoning the practice of hiring visiting and contractual faculty.

The protesters urged the prime minister, president, Senate chairman, National Assembly speaker to take notice of the situation.

They gave the government until July 20 to accept their demands or else they would organise peaceful protests throughout the country along with a protest in front of the parliament house.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2017.

COMMENTS (1)

Fahad | 6 years ago | Reply With 400 doctors and not able to produce a single startup venture with the knowlwdge they earned. Is there any problem? Yes.
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