Teachers and staff members of Agriculture University Peshawar staged a protest demonstration over non-payment of salaries and pensions.
They demanded of the university administration and government to release their salaries without further delay.
The protest took place within university premises, where the demonstrators shut down offices. During the protest, participants also chanted slogans against the university administration.
The protesters claimed that the university is facing a financial crisis due to the vice chancellor's poor policies.
They said that because of the financial crisis and poor management, student enrollment is slowly but steadily declining at the university.
They also accused the vice chancellor of withholding funds allocated for salaries and dues, which has caused them severe difficulties.
The university administration told The Express Tribune that the university employees have arrears of 10 months. The university does not have funds for payments, which will be made as soon as funds are received from the provincial government.
Background
In August 2024, The Express Tribune reported that the financial crisis in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's universities is far from over as Islamia College University and University of Agriculture Peshawar have not paid their employees for the past two months.
The provincial government has always claimed higher education as the top priority sector for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government but despite these tall claims no heed is paid to the problem.
Vice Chancellor Agriculture University, Professor Dr. Jehan Bakht, said the fiscal deficit is so severe that if they collect funds and arrange payment of salaries for one month the next month they don't have enough funds and this gap is almost impossible to bridge.
He is also the chairman of the four Universities of the campus including University of Peshawar, Agriculture University, University of Engineering and Technology and Islamia College University.
"We need at least Rs200 million to enable the university to pay its 1,200 employees and pensioners," he said, adding that the provincial government was repeatedly requested to provide the required amount but to no avail.
He informed that he has already requested the chief minister, higher education minister and finance advisor to solve the issue but still there was no progress to this end.
"Next week we will receive Rs1.7 million grant but it will not solve the problem and the shortage of funds will still persist," he noted.
He informed that the Higher Education Commission reduced grants. From 2018 to 2024 around 35 per cent budget was cut by the HEC to the Agriculture and other Universities in K-P.
The VC said that this year too budget was decreased for the Agriculture University by HEC.
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