KARACHI: College education in Sindh is on the verge of collapse and this is evident by the fact that 250 of the total of 286 government colleges in the province are being run by junior ‘incharges’, not principals, said the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association on Sunday.

SPLA spokesperson Prof Iftikhar Muhammad Azmi said that corruption and mismanagement had marred the government education sector and college teachers had been badly neglected.

He said the time-scale facility for college teachers was already in place in Balochistan, while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had approved four-tier formulas of their own. He said that even the federal government had also upgraded its teachers but those in Sindh province were still waiting for promotions.

Prof Azmi said though the Sindh education department tried to adopt recruitment rules of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it was not ready to extend the same facilities enjoyed by teachers over there. Recently in Sindh, he said, some college teachers of BPS-19 to BPS-20 were promoted but hundreds of teachers working in BPS-17 to BPS-18 still awaited promotions.

Giving details, Prof Azmi said that 846 male and 245 female college teachers have still not been promoted from BPS-17 and BPS-18, while another set of teachers at BPS-18 to BPS-19, comprising 585 male and 255 female teachers were also waiting to be promoted.

Regional director colleges in Hyderabad has to oversee college matters in Karachi and this resulted in delays in administrative processes, said Prof Azmi, adding that many Umra applications of college teachers had been pending for a long time. He called for giving the director of colleges the authority to at least approve urgent matters regarding colleges in Karachi.

The SPLA spokesman said the entire education in Sindh needed to be revamped, adding that more and more schools keep shutting down by the day while most colleges were being run without principals which badly affected the process of education.

Prof Azmi demanded posting of permanent principals (BPS-19) at least in degree colleges to improve academic and administrative matters. He also urged the education authorities to give serious consideration to grave issues of government-run colleges in Sindh before it was too late.—PPI