March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

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PESHAWAR, March 27: Teachers’ Joint Action Committee will organize hunger strike camps in the provincial capitals put pressure on the government to revoke its decision regarding the implementation of the Model Universities Ordinance (MUO).

Speaking at a news conference at the press club on Thursday, chairman of the JAC of the associations of the teachers of colleges and universities, Prof Nazim Hasnain, said the MUO was unacceptable to the teachers in its present shape, because it was drafted without consulting them.

He said the 85 per cent subsidy given by the government on education to the students would be withdrawn once the ordinance was enforced.

The government spent only 2.5 per cent and 1.85 per cent of the gross national product on health and education  respectively and the implementation of thee ordinance would deprive 98 per cent of the students of the right to education after the subsidy was withdrawn.

He claimed that education and health were not in the private sector in any country.

He said the people paid a host of taxes and they had the right to get education and treatment at state expenses.

He alleged that the ordinance would be in contravention of articles 37 and 38 of the Constitution, wherein the provision of basic needs, like education and health, to the citizens had been guaranteed free of cost.

With the enforcement of the ordinance, he said, the appointments to the educational institutions would be made on contract basis, a policy dictated by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

He vowed that the students and teachers could not be forced into accepting repressive policies.

The government, he said, was planning to implement the MUO for the past six months, but owing to the relentless campaign by the teachers it had so far failed to do so. The government, he said, was now endeavouring to implement it through back-door efforts.  He said the ordinance had been implemented in six universities and according to the plans it would be extended to all the educational institutions.

He demanded that the government should remove the military heads of  the educational institutions and secondary education boards immediately and replace them by education experts.

Mr Hasnain demanded reinstatement of the teachers and doctors, who, he said, were removed from service on flimsy grounds.

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