LAHORE: Teachers of the Punjab University on the call of the Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) held a strike and boycotted classes on Thursday against the delay by the administration in accepting their demands.

The demands include the disparity reduction allowance, performance-based increment and honorarium for tenure track system (TTS) faculty, house requisition and utility allowance, advance increments and ante date appointments.

The PUASA claimed, in a statement, that the teachers boycotted the classes and held a demonstration outside the Vice Chancellor’s Office for hours. The demonstration was attended by a large number of faculty, heads of various departments and members of the ASA, Senate and Syndicate.

Admin claims PUASA strike failed, teachers rejected boycott call

Speaking on the occasion, ASA President Dr Azhar Naeem, Secretary Dr Amjad Abbas Magsi, Syndicate members Dr Sardar Asghar Iqbal, Dr Muhammad Islam said legitimate demands of teachers had been pending for a long time. They condemned the behaviour of the VC towards the elected representatives of the community, saying that the VC was constantly refusing to accept the legitimate demands of the teachers. They said the PUASA had repeatedly conveyed the teachers’ demands to the VC in various peaceful ways over the past several months but false promises were made to them.

The PUASA also demanded that the decisions of the Senate and the Syndicate be implemented in their true spirit and recorded a peaceful demonstration outside the VC’s Office.

However, PU spokesperson Khuram Shahzad said the teachers overwhelmingly rejected the call to boycott classes as the move was based on ‘hidden and personal agenda’. Claiming that all the activities of the university were held as per routine, he said that out of more than 1,000 teachers, only around 30 gathered outside the VC office to record their protest. He said the PUASA was involved in negative politics and did not enjoy the support of the teachers’ community anymore. He said PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad visited various departments, institutes, centres, colleges and schools where the classes were being held as per schedule.

Mr Shahzad claimed that attendance of students in the departmental libraries was as usual and the teachers had rejected PUASA’s protest call. He said the PUASA’s demands were already accepted and that for the first time, the university was being run through statutory bodies. He added that meetings of the Senate and all statutory bodies had been organised as per the requirement of the university calendar.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2022