LAHORE :The Punjab chapter of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) has warned the government of complete academic boycott in universities of the province from December 23 if it failed to fulfil their demands, including all recurring and development budget as demanded by Higher Education Commission (HEC).
FAPUASA Punjab leadership while addressing a press conference at University of Engineering & Technology (UET) here on Saturday also announced that in the first phase of the protest starting December 9 (Monday) a token boycott of classes would be observed every Wednesday from 11 am to 12pm.
FAPUASA Punjab President Dr Mumtaz Anwar, UET Lahore’s Teaching Staff Association (TSA) President Dr Amanat Ali Bhatti and Government College University (GCU) Lahore Academic Staff Association President Dr Hamid Mukhtar said the university teachers had been very politely requesting the government for the release of demanded funding since June 2019 but no positive response came.
The FAPUASA leaders said that in the current fiscal year, a huge cut in budget of universities and HEC had been imposed which was unacceptable as the investment in human capital could not be compromised in an era of knowledge economy.
They observed that the reduced budget was leading to non- payment of salaries to teachers and other staff as well as increase of fee burden on students and their parents.
Therefore, it is demanded that recurring and development budget as demanded in actual must be released to the HEC, they said.
They also stressed that after the 18th Amendment and release of handsome NFC Award to provinces, the Punjab government must also take care of its universities and provide grant to the universities as well as provide funding for provision of allowances such as PhD Allowance at the rate of Rs 25,000 per month, technical allowance, executive allowance, etc. They said technical allowance had already been granted to all engineers working in Punjab government as well as autonomous bodies such as Wasa, LDA and Tevta. However, the engineering faculty of universities is still deprived of the allowance.
The FAPUASA Punjab also said all the demands of FAPUASA Central such as reinstatement of illegally terminated teachers, restoration of tax rebate, increase in retirement age, etc, ought to be accepted. They warned that if the government did not accept their demands, there would be a complete boycott of classes in the whole Punjab province starting from December 23, 2019. They further said that from Dec 9, 2019, all teachers across the province would wear armbands to highlight concerns over funding cut and other issues faced by the universities teachers.
PU contest: Punjab University’s Directorate of Student Affairs organised inter-departmental Sufiana and national song singing competition 2019 at the university’s Al Raazi Hall.
A large number of students from various departments participated in the completions. In the national song singing competition, Department of Zoology’s Syeda Mariyam Tahir, Institute of Communication Studies’ Halima Yousaf and Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology’s Mohsin Fayaz got first, second and third positions, respectively.
In Sufiana Kalam singing competition, Institute of Social and Cultural Studies’ Ayesha Afzal, College of Pharmacy’s Ayesha Rasheed and Department of Philosophy’s Zartaj Hassan obtained first, second and third position, respectively.
Meanwhile, PU’s Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP) held a cleanliness drive at the institute. IAP in-charge Dr Iram Fatima, other faculty members and a large number of students participated in the event.
The students decorated the department with interesting and cleanliness-promoting charts. The speakers highlighted the importance of cleanliness and appreciated the students for their efforts.