Protesters demand taking back DJ College block from education dept

Hundreds of students of the DJ Science College and their teachers protested against the Sindh College Education Department (CED) on Tuesday for allotting the college’s post-graduation block to the Regional Directorate of Colleges.

The protest, which was led by the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association and the Joint Action Committee of College Teachers, demanded that the CED retract its decision since a block of the college is already occupied by another government department, disrupting students’ education.

Last week, CED Secretary Lubna Salahuddin had issued a notification calling to shift the office of the Karachi Regional Directorate of Colleges into the building of DJ Science College. The protesting teachers and students rejected the CED secretary’s proposal of setting up new offices for the officials of the regional directorate and demanded the caretaker Sindh government to get the offices that were already established by the Sindh School Education Department in the premises of the college vacated.

Addressing the protest, Professor Shehzad Muslim said the DJ Science College was among the historic colleges of Sindh, and it was built solely for education purposes. But, some of the bureaucrats wanted to occupy the college’s building for their offices. “The nations of the world build educational institutes, while Pakistan is the only one where officers occupy colleges and schools,” he said.

DJ Science College teacher Professor Munir Alam Khan said the Sindh government should take immediate steps to save the century-long academic history of the institution. “Due to the lack of classrooms, our students have already suffered. If we allow further offices in the college, it would create more problems,” he said.

He added that the principal’s residence, which is situated in front of the college, has also been occupied by the Sindh Textbook Board, Jamshoro, the Human Resources and Training Directorate-General and other offices of the Sindh School Education Department.

Colleges fall under the domain of the CED. But, the school education department has been using DJ Science College for its bureaucratic work which is a violation of the relevant rules, Khan said.

SPLA Central President Professor Ferozuddin Siddiqui said more than 2,000 students were enrolled in the college. Thus, setting up further offices for non-academic work would disturb educational activities.

He added that instead of shifting more offices to the college, the CED secretary should suggest a permanent solution to the problem. He also demanded the caretaker to take action immediately and evict all offices from the college’s premises.