UoH faculty members continue strike on 2nd day

HARIPUR: The faculty members of University of Haripur (UoH) observed a strike in support of their demands for the second consecutive day on Thursday.

They went on strike on Wednesday against the delay in giving a pay raise that the government had announced and being disbursed to their colleagues of other universities of the KP province.

The faculty members, on the call of Academic Staff Association Haripur University, observed a complete strike and staged sit-in for two hours daily in the lawn of the administration block. According to Academic Staff Association, Haripur University, president they had approached the vice- chancellor directly and through statutory bodies of senate, syndicate and academic council, demanding incorporation of disparity reduction allowance, teaching allowance, MS allowance, M.Phil, PhD supervision honourarium, 20percent pay raise that was due after July 2021.But despite the fact, the UoH has a surplus budget, their genuine demands were still unmet for the last three years forcing them to go on strike for an indefinite period.

He said that the UoH was the only university in the country where there was no study leave for pursuing higher education.

When approached for comments, the registrar UoH Prof Riaz Muhammad confirmed about the strike of the faculty members but said that the VC Prof Dr Anwarul Hasan Gilani had already constituted a 15-member committee comprising the members of university syndicates and senate for addressing genuine demands of faculty members under the rules. He said that the committee was tasked with sharing its recommendations to the VC within a week’s time. The registrar expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved shortly after the receipt of recommendations from the committee.