Teachers to protest at HEC on 21st

Islamabad : Strongly condemning Chair­-p­erson, Higher Education Commission, Dr Tariq Banuri, and his ‘incompetent team’ for launching policies to damage higher education sector, Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations has demanded of the government to replace him with a competent person to resolve the issues of faculty and further save the higher education sector of Pakistan.

The Federation announced a protest in front of HEC on Oct 21 in which the faculty members from all over Pakistan would participate and vowed to continue the struggle until the legitimate demands of faculty are fulfilled.

In an online meeting of the Executive Council held on Oct 6, FAPUASA showed disappointment in the attitude of the HEC chief towards academia. It resolved that he miserably failed to address issues of academia and keep his commitments multiple times in the past two years including the higher education budget, interference in the autonomy of universities, condition of post-PhD experience for BPS faculty, time scale promotion, job security, administrative posts, endorsements, salary increase for TTS faculty and 75% tax rebate.

FAPUASA in a statement issued Friday rejected new research journals and Ph.D. admission policies of HEC and demanded that FAPUASA must be given representation in policymaking at all levels.

All provincial chapters would follow the following schedule for the protest in their respective: Islamabad Chapter Oct 13, Baluchistan and KP Octobers on Oct 14, Sindh and Punjab on Oct 15 and AJK Chapter October on 16th. The chapters would hold protest rallies and press conferences in front of press clubs in provincial capitals or in their respective universities. On October 21 faculty members from all over Pakistan would protest and sit-in in front of HEC in the Federal Capital.