Fapuasa to hold protest on Oct 21 for HEC chief’s removal

Reiterating their demand for removing the Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (Fapuasa) has announced holding a protest in front of the commission’s building on October 21.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the elected representative body of Fapuasa condemned the HEC chief for allegedly launching policies to damage the higher education sector.

They demanded that the government replace him with a competent person who can resolve the issues of faculty members and save the higher education sector of Pakistan.

“The federation has announced a protest in front of the HEC in Islamabad on October 21, 2020. Faculty members from all over Pakistan will participate in the protest and will continue until their demands are fulfilled,” reads the Fapuasa statement.

During an online meeting of Fapuasa’s executive council held on October 6, the federation had expressed disappointment over the attitude of the HEC chairman towards the academic community. They said he had failed badly at addressing the issues of the academia and keeping his commitments.

They lamented that despite lodging multiple complaints in the past two years, the HEC chairman and his team have failed to resolve the issues of the higher education sector.

These issues include financial matters of universities, budget, interference in autonomy of universities, condition of post-PhD experience for BPS (basic pay scale) faculty, time scale promotion, job security, administrative posts, endorsements, salary increase for TTS (tenure track system) faculty and 75 per cent tax rebate.

Fapuasa rejected the new research journals and PhD admission policies of the HEC, and demanded that the commission let the federation represent the academic community in policymaking at all levels.

All provincial chapters of Fapuasa will follow a schedule of protest, according to which the Islamabad chapter will hold a demonstration on October 13, the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapters on October 14, the Sindh and Punjab chapters on October 15 and the Azad Jammu & Kashmir chapter on October 16.

All of these chapters will hold protest rallies and news conferences, while on October 21, faculty members from all over the country will hold a sit-in in front of the HEC building.