No one should be objecting to the chief minister becoming the appointing authority in Sindh’s universities because he is an elected representative who is answerable to the people and the Sindh government provides billions in funds to public universities every year.
Speaking to journalists after attending an educationists’ discussion and award ceremony on Wednesday, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Khuhro said that people who are critical of public universities’ administrative powers being taken away from the governor under the new Universities Law, should know that the CM is competent enough to appoint vice chancellors.
“He [the CM] is the elected representative, answerable to the people of Sindh and provides billions of rupees as grants to varsities, while the governor is a federal nominee whose actions cannot be discussed in the provincial assembly,” said Khuhro.
The discussion on academia and industry and the ensuing “Ideal Excellence Awards” were organised by Ideal Autonetics, an IT solutions provider, at a local hotel and was attended by vice chancellors, pro-vice chancellors and registrars of public and private universities of Pakistan.
Khuhro, who attended the event as a chief guest, presented awards to various VCs, pro-VCs, department heads and registrars, including one to Founding Vice Chancellor of Mehran Engineering University Prof Ahsan Qureshi who was awarded in the Living Legend category.
Rejecting reservations about the possible changes in the admission policies of public universities in Karachi after the new law, Khuhro told reporters that students were being discriminated against on the basis of the “Karachi,” “Sindh” and “Pakistan” categories, which is illogical.
“I have objections on Karachi and Sindh categories [in universities’ admissions] because Karachi and Sindh are not separate entities,” he said. “Admission should be given to students from entire Sindh on merit, not on the basis of their city of residence.”
Speaking about the addition of a bureaucrat in the syndicates of universities, Khuhro said since the Sindh government provides “billions of rupees” to varsities, it reserves the right to have its nominee in the syndicates who could see and observe where the government funds are being spent and assess if there is need for more.
In response to a query on nepotism, the minister claimed that there was no question of selective appointments of VCs since the CM and elected representatives are answerable to the people.
Earlier while speaking at the award ceremony, Khuhro congratulated the winners and expressed hope that they would continue to strive hard to promote higher education.
JI announces ‘Save Education’ campaign
The Jamaat-e-Islami has announced a campaign against the newly-passed controversial Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which has granted overarching powers over the administrative affairs of public universities and degree-awarding institutes to the chief minister.
Addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the party’s headquarters in the city, on Wednesday, JI Karachi Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced the “Save universities, save education” campaign and said that that the new law was contrary to the basics of the Constitution and is likely to affect the autonomy of public varsities.
He asked Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair to not approve the controversial bill and urged other political parties, sharing a similar stance on the issue, to join hands with JI in its campaign to make it more vigorous.
Referring to the protests by teachers’ bodies against the law, Rehman said, “The teachers’ fraternity and others have rejected this move by the Sindh government. The JI stands with them and would not let any compromise be made on the autonomy of universities.”
He added that the government has made an attempt to dictate universities by removing teachers and students from the syndicate and including bureaucrats into it.
“Giving the power to appoint Grade 17 and above officers to the CM means that universities are likely to suffer like government schools in the province,” the JI leader said.
Rehman said universities across the world formulate their admission policy independently, but in Sindh such powers have been taken from the varsities’ academic council and transferred to the provincial government, which was incomprehensible.
He called the bill “undemocratic, dictatorial and unconstitutional” while demanding the abolishment of the new syndicate benches in varsities and urging reforms for them in accordance with 1972 act, by including teachers and students into them.
