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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Academics in chains

By Iftekhar A Khan
October 20, 2018

The video clip of former Punjab University vice chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran and registrars of Punjab University in handcuffs depicted a ghastly spectacle.

Dr Kamran is a physicist recognised within and outside the country for his achievements. He produced many research papers in the field of physics, and authored numerous books. He also holds a Pride of Performance award by the government. The treatment meted out to him by NAB on his alleged wrongdoings was most abominable.

When the chief justice questioned NAB why senior academics had been handcuffed, DG NAB replied: security reasons. Were the lives of the professors at risk? Were the retired old men, walking slowly in chains, hardened lawbreakers likely to slip away from NAB custody? Whatever the charges against Dr Mujahid Kamran, putting him in handcuffs was a reprehensible act by NAB. Is that the way to treat a retired old professor of such standing? This is someone who has taught hundreds of thousands of students since 1972 when he joined the Punjab University as a lecturer. Many of his old students are now working at senior positions both in the public and in private sectors.

During his stint as VC of the Punjab University, Dr Kamran brought some radical changes in the administration. He empowered the university senate body. Similarly, he authorised the heads of the various departments to take independent decisions within the overall framework of the institution.

Sadly, none of our public and private-sector universities has made it to the list of the top 500 universities of the world. Although reasons for that may be quite a few but lack of respect for teachers and the absence of a conducive environment for education stand out distinctly among them. It is pertinent to mention that during the 1960s and 1980s, our colleges such as Government College and Forman Christian College Lahore, and Gordon College in Rawalpindi attracted many foreign students. That was the situation in many other universities too. Students from the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and even Malaysia came to study in our institutions. Now our students go to Malaysia for higher studies.

We often lament the falling standards of higher education in the country. The standard of education is directly linked with respect for teachers in society, as well as their salaries and the teaching environment. Why do some countries respect their teachers more than others? Prof Peter Dolton at Sussex University, who authored the Global Teacher Status Index, states that teachers and professors in Finland, Singapore and China are highly respected and best paid as per the GDP per capita of those countries.

Every government, to the extent of paying lip service only, exhorts foreign qualified academics to return to the home country and teach our own students. But who would run the risk of returning to Pakistan when they observe retired professors in chains on alleged wrongdoings. The allegations levelled against the professors may or may not prove to be right but the impression of humiliation and indignity they suffered while being led in chains will stay with them forever. And then we complain about the brain drain of qualified men and women from the country.

The government would do well to incorporate new rules and procedures in NAB’s method of investigation to clean its present reputation of an instrument of coercion. Although many raised eyebrows when NAB shabbily treated politicians and bureaucrats, seeing retired professors and men of letters in chains was heart-wrenching. Nobody would object when the guilty are made to face the law and are punished but this should be done without humiliation and with respect to the concept of presumption of innocence. please.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore.

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