Sindh Universities bill 2013: KU teachers intensify protest

Teachers at the university have decided to step up their protest by boycotting academic activities on Thursday.

KARACHI:

With almost a week remaining before the deadline to revise the controversial Sindh Universities law 2013 comes to an end, the teachers of the University of Karachi (KU) have decided to step up their protest by boycotting academic activities on Thursday (today).

The decision was announced on Wednesday during a press conference addressed by Karachi University Teachers Society president Dr Mutahir Ahmed. The press conference was followed the KU teachers’ general body meeting to develop a consensus against the new law.

Earlier, on August 29, teachers of public sector universities from across the province met at the NED University of Engineering and Technology and jointly demanded the elimination of some clauses they believed were against the fundamental concept of a university’s charter which gives full autonomy to manage academic and administrative affairs of the institution.

“Rejection of all clauses which transferred the authority to appoint from a university’s statutory bodies, including selection board, senate, syndicate and academic council, to the Sindh chief minister was consensual,” he said.

He said that KU teachers were falsely accused of not taking their counterparts from rural Sindh universities onboard in this regard. “This impression proved wrong at the meeting of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) - the umbrella body of the teachers’ associations in the country,” he said.

The participants of the FAPUASA meeting, he added, had demanded the provincial government must revise all controversial amendments in consultation with all stakeholders within a 15-day time period. Meanwhile, a seven-member teachers’ committee to finalise recommendations for the revisions in the law was also formed.

While the deadline for Sindh government will end on September 12, Dr Ahmed said that teachers at public sector universities have decided to continue the protests against the new law as per the decisions made by their university associations.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2013.