15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 14: Classes for newly admitted students of BSc (Honours), MSc (Previous) and BS programmes are unlikely to commence at the Federal Urdu University of Arts , Science and Technology, as per schedule - Jan 15 - after teachers at the Gulshan campus continued with their ongoing pen-down strike.

A source on the campus feared that the administration had lost control over the teachers, and if the situation was not properly addressed, teaching on the campus would hardly resume before Eid-ul-Azha.

On Jan 10, the university announced to put off the honours class exams for two weeks and suspended classes of MSc final and some other batches for two days, after teachers at the Gulshan campus denied performing duties in view of alleged indecent attitude by some student groups towards them. However, teaching could not resume on Jan 13 and the administration.

Many teachers came to the campus, but did not work. Consequently, the issuance of vouchers pertaining to some new admissions was also in the doldrums, said a non-teaching staff.

In the meantime, it was learnt that the varsity administration had moved against the students, who had been named by the teachers' body as the main souls behind the alleged fuss created on the Gulshan campus on Monday last.

Since the officials are already looking into the grievances of teachers and have also issued letters to three students in question, teachers should not prolong their agitation by making the "minor incident a base for any ego-trips".

The varsity's vice-chancellor was at present in Islamabad, and in his absence, a committee had been authorized to handle the situation, said a source. A general body meeting of the Baba-i-Urdu Campus teachers is likely to be held on Saturday (Jan 15).

When contacted, the Dean of the Science Faculty, Prof Muhammad Saeed, told Dawn on Friday that he was in contact with the teachers of his faculty and was pursuing them to resume academic activities, saying letters had been sent to the students in question as part of disciplinary measures.

He feared that the overall academic plan for the year would be affected. If the teachers continued with their boycott of classes on Saturday as well, then 1,200 fresh students would have to sit idle on their first day at the university.

The General Secretary of the Anjuman-i-Asatiza (Gulshan Campus), Syed Asghar Ali, said the VC had been informed in writing about the grievances and demands of the teachers on the campus. It was now the administration's turn to act, he said.

"We demand that parents of the students in question be called for a meeting, so that any further mishap or adventure by student groups could be averted in future," he added.

On the other hand, it was said that representatives of student groups had also contacted the varsity's student adviser, and told him that they were ready to tender an apology for any alleged offensive attitude towards teachers on Monday last.