National College of Arts: Canned teachers to continue teaching for now

‘The decision to hire them will be taken by the board’.

LAHORE:

The National College of Arts (NCA) administration on Tuesday allowed four teachers, whose contracts were not extended, to continue teaching.

The decision was taken after the matter reached the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and the Cabinet Division asked the college administration to let the four teachers continue. The contracts of two Architecture Department teachers, Irfan Ghani and Aqeel Kazmi, and two teachers from the Fine Arts Department, Mariyum Hussain and Laila Rehman, were not extended. On Monday, the four teachers, dozens of other faculty members and scores of students protested against the college principal.

“I couldn’t allow these teachers to continue teaching on my own. Now that the Cabinet Division has allowed them to teach, they can start from tomorrow. The decision to hire them on regular basis or extend their contracts will be taken by the board,” NCA Acting Principal Professor Bashir Ahmad told The Express Tribune.  Architecture Department students continued their boycott of the classes on Tuesday and didn’t let students from other departments attend classes.

Irfan Ghani said, “So far we haven’t gotten word from the college administration to continue teaching. The principal will also have to explain why we were fired illegally. We have to watch for our self respect and integrity. This is no way to treat teachers”.

Asked if they would continue to boycott classes, Ghani replied, “We are not just fighting for our contracts. We are also fighting for this college. We will decide the matter tomorrow after discussing with other faculty members.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2011.