Varsity teachers protest against govt’s education policy

LAHORE:Teachers and non-teaching staff in universities across the country observed Black Day on Thursday and strongly protested against the education policy of the government on the call of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA). The protesting teachers wore black armbands to protest against, what they termed, the anti-education measures taken by the government.

FAPUASA Pakistan Central President Dr Amjad Abbas Magsi led a protest rally from Punjab University and hinted at a protest sit-in for not withdrawing the budget cut. Speaking on the occasion, he said that in the last few years, the number of universities across the country had increased to 150, but the total recurring grant, which was previously frozen at the level of Rs65 billion, has been eliminated by the federal govt in the upcoming budget. He said that the size of the federal government's budget has increased by 300% and in the previous election, all the government parties promised in their manifesto to increase the education budget to 3-4% of the GDP, and now they refused to provide financial support to the provincial universities.

On the call of FAPUASA, protests were also held in major universities of Punjab such as Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, University of Okara and Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The demonstration organised at GCU Lahore was led by the President of FAPUASA Punjab Chapter Dr Khawar and the Central Information Secy Dr Ahtisham Ali. The protests in Balochistan were led by the President of Balochistan Chapter Kaleemullah, the protests of KPK universities were led by the Central General Secy Dr M Uzair and the provincial president Dr Humayun Khan, while the protests in Sindh were led by the president of the Sindh Dr Akhtiar Ali Ghumro.