Teachers boycott classes on World Teachers Day

Teachers observe WTD as a black day in all 72 public universities of the country.

LAHORE: Teachers observed the World Teachers’ Day (WTD) as a black day in all 72 public universities of the country and completely boycotted classes on the call of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA).

FAPUASA Punjab president Dr Zafar Noon told The Express Tribune, “The FAPUASA has observed a black day in protest against the federal government’s attitude. The government has not fulfilled its commitment to release funds to the Higher Education Commission (HEC).” Dr Noon said that federal government’s handout that it has released Rs12.1 billion to the HEC was misleading. He said that in keeping with the demands of the FAPUASA, a special committee constituted by the prime minister (PM), on September 21, had agreed to release the grant to the HEC but so far not a penny had been released.

He said that teachers had observed a black day in the city’s public universities including the Punjab University and the University of Engineering and Technology. He said it was unfortunate that a day celebrated the world over was deemed a black day in Pakistan.

The PM’s special committee had agreed to accept three demands of the teachers. First, to release grants to the HEC for the 50 per cent raise in salaries and 15 per cent raise in their medical allowance. Second, to release the grant for projects of public universities which are 90 per cent complete. The final demand, that the committee had agreed to, was to immediately release funds for thousands of PhD students. According to FAPUASA, none of the demands have been met.

The HEC’s data reveals that its development budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 is Rs15.672 billion while Rs22.5 billion was allocated for fiscal year 2009-2010.

The federal government has so far only released Rs11.250 billion. The data further shows that the federal government from January 1 to September 15 2010 had agreed to release Rs19.5 billion but so far has only released Rs4.418 billion - 22.65 per cent of the actual agreed upon amount.

The HEC’s immediate needs are Rs5 billion for roll over default from 2009-2010, Rs4.3 billion for projects that are 90 per cent complete and Rs7 billion for scholarships to PhD students. An HEC official had briefed the federal government that if under the austerity drive 50 per cent of the HEC’s Public Sector Development Programme is cut then Pakistan’s higher education sector would not survive.

The FAPUASA president, Dr Maher Saeed Akhtar, said that if the government would not fulfill its commitment to the HEC then all the 72 public universities would go on an unlimited strike. He said the government’s announcement last night of release of monies to the HEC was nothing more than a ruse to calm teachers down so that they would not observe the WTD as a black day. He said that any announcement ‘made in the dark of the night’ was not genuine. He said that within days of the next FAPUASA meeting, an indefinite strike may be announced in all the public universities of the country.

Former FAPUASA president Dr Mumtaz Ahmad Salik said that the government had not intended to release the grant so that varsities could pay the raise in salaries and medical allowance as announced in 2010-2011 budget.

Punjab University Academic Staff Association general secretary Dr Javaid Sami said that it was a tragedy that on the day meant to celebrate teachers’ services, teachers in Pakistan were protesting for their rights and position in society.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2010.