KU teachers go on strike because ‘VC is breaking laws’

As the new academic year started at the University of Karachi on Monday, many teachers skipped their classes as part of the strike called by the Karachi University Teachers Society (Kuts).

Dr Riaz Ahmed of Kuts said allowances and other issues are behind the strike. He said they are concerned about KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Ajmal Khan not following the statutory laws passed by the university’s syndicate and senate.

“He has been following his own will to select or reject people in the selection board and the syndicate, making it very difficult for the teachers aspiring for promotions,” said Dr Ahmed. “Teachers are disappointed that the selection board is being delayed, as it has already been delayed for many years. We found out that only one of the seven associate professor applicants has been selected, and it has lowered the teachers’ morale.”

He said around 250 lecturers were to be promoted to associate professor and 150 to assistant professor. “This can only happen with advertisement, but the VC has been advertising only those vacancies that he thinks are useful for the university.”

Referring to the recent ad, he said that there is greater uncertainty because many candidates will be unable to reach the target of published journals or research papers. As reason he cited their approval by the Board of Advanced Studies & Research instead of the Higher Education Commission, as the relevant laws require.

Dr Ahmed said the VC did not temporarily leave the syndicate when his family member was nominated, as required by the relevant law. He also lamented the chaos in the KU’s admissions committee, and said the university’s academic council had to be called thrice.

“While the student limit for the morning and evening programmes is 10,000, only 6,000 were admitted, and a further 700 or 800 after a hue and cry was raised. The scenario isn’t much different this time round.”

He said that under these circumstances, Kuts is forced to take such measures. He added that while the loss of academic days is regrettable, the loss of career years is also highly distressing.

It was later learnt that the advertisement was withdrawn on Kuts’ demand, with the request to engage in dialogue to reach common ground instead of putting the students’ futures at stake. According to the KU administration, a lack of funds is causing delays in the smooth provision of some allowances. They said approximately Rs4 billion are paid only in salaries, pensions and medical expenses.

They said the university spent Rs85,446,303 in the evening programme from July to November last year, adding that the KU syndicate has approved the resolution that additional PhD allowance will be paid after the release of a grant from the Sindh government.