College teachers demand benefits, promotions

Announce province-wide strike on January 15

KARACHI:

The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) has announced a protest movement, demanding the immediate approval of the Five-Tier Formula, promotions, and related benefits for college teachers across the province.

Addressing a press conference at Government S.M. Arts and Commerce College, SPLA Central President Professor Munwar Abbas, along with other leaders, said that a province-wide protest campaign would begin on January 15 to press for the long-pending demands of teachers. Protest demonstrations will be held in the Sukkur region on January 19 and in the Hyderabad region on January 21.He warned that if the demands were not accepted, college teachers across Sindh would observe a teaching boycott on February 9, followed by a sit-in outside Bilawal House on February 12.

Professor Munwar Abbas said that the immediate approval of the Five-Tier Formula, promotions, and service benefits remained the teachers' core demands, which had been continuously ignored. He lamented that despite the passage of eight years, the Sindh College Education Department had failed to become a government priority, resulting in severe deterioration of colleges.

According to the SPLA central president, due to official neglect, colleges are turning into ruins, with broken benches and poor sanitation conditions severely affecting the academic environment.

SPLA leaders further pointed out that in the modern IT era, textbooks for Intermediate Computer Science and Commerce are still unavailable, raising serious questions about the efficiency of the education system. The press conference was also informed that more than half of the colleges in the province are without permanent principals and Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs), badly affecting administrative affairs.

The association urged the Sindh government to immediately resolve the issues of college teachers, warning that failure to do so would lead to an intensification of the protest movement.