KARACHI: The Karachi University Teachers Society (Kuts), in its general body meeting held on Thursday, unanimously decided to continue its boycott of morning and evening classes in protest against the “derogatory attitude” of secretary universities and boards till the demands were accepted.

Some government official had recently participated in selection board’s proceedings and declared them null and void on the grounds that the university administration had not taken prior approval for the process.

The teacher’s forum passed two unanimous resolutions; it agreed to continue its protest till the university holds the selection board proceedings, which was earlier scheduled for Jan 31 on the orders of Sindh High Court (SHC) but declared cancelled by the secretary, and the government removes the official.

The forum condemns the secretary’s attitude and demands from the chief minister to appoint an official on this post who is well aware of universities’ laws and procedures.

“It demands that the administration completes the scrutiny process of applications received in response to 2019 advert about the Institute of Environmental Studies and completes the selection board process in three months,” stated the Kuts resolution.

The meeting also took notice of maladministration allegedly committed by the university’s director finance and demanded that evening classes bills pending for over a year now be paid within 15 days. Otherwise, it warned, teachers would be forced to take an extreme step.

The teachers expressed their concern over nonpayment of salaries for two months to the staff at KU’s Institute of Clinical Psychology.

“The members demanded that the university immediately remove retired employees serving on administrative positions like directors/heads of various centres and institutes. The administrations should get illegally occupied houses in the Staff Town vacated,” the resolution said.

Minster warns educational institutions of action

Health Minister Dr Azra Pachuho has once again warned private colleges/universities that have not implemented the eligibility criteria set by the provincial government for medical and dental college/university admission that their charter and affiliation with provincial institutions would be revoked.

Her statement came following her meeting with Prof Shahid Rasul, the caretaker vice chancellor of the Jinnah Sindh Medical University, (JSMU), the focal institution for all matters/arrangements related to admission to medical and dental colleges/universities.

Dr Pechuho was on Thursday briefed during the meeting that several institutions were not implementing the eligibility criteria and refusing admission to Sindh-based students, who received a minimum 50 per cent marks in the entry test conducted by the Pakistan Medical Commission.

The minister was also informed that the domicile conditions set for admission were also being ignored and a number of private institutions were offering seats to students who failed to get admission in the province of their residence.

These colleges/universities, it was pointed out, were also getting ‘donations’ from candidates.

“The private universities that are not adhering to the policies set by Sindh will be under investigation. They are required to give first priority to students applying from Sindh,” the minister was quoted as saying.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2022