KARACHI, May 8: The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) on Sunday rejecting the transfer of St. Joseph’s College for Women and St. Patrick’s College to the Catholic Board has threatened to start a protest drive against the decision. According to details, a high-level meeting of the SPLA was held here with Prof Manzoor Hussain Chishti in the chair.

The meeting strongly condemned what it called ‘illegal’ handing over of the said colleges by the Sindh Education Department to the Catholic Board.

The meeting severely criticized the role of Education Minister Dr Hamida Khuhro in this regard.

The SPLA meeting decided to launch an aggressive movement against what it termed ‘illegal acts’ of the education department.

It decided to unveil the details of the protest drive in a press conference to be held today.

The SPLA also asked all the teachers of the St. Joseph’s College for Women and the

St. Patrick’s College to report at the D. J. College today, at 10am Prof Mashooq Baloch, Prof Syed Riaz Ahsan, Prof Mahram Kalhoro, Prof Khadim Hussain Khoso, Prof Athar Mirza, Prof Shafqat Jokhio, Prof Mubeenur Rehman and other office-bearers attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal also condemned the privatization of these two colleges.

Rejecting the said decision, MNAs Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, Abdul Sattar Afghani and Mohammad Laeeq Khan asked what benefits the government wanted to provide to the students belonging to poor and middle-class families by the privatization of these colleges.

They expressed concern over the future of the teachers and students of these colleges after their handing over to the Catholic Board.

The MMA leaders termed the privatization of two premier colleges of the city an atrocity against the citizens and students of Karachi.

They also condemned the attitude of what they called champions of the rights of Karachiites over this issue.

They said that teachers and students had strongly rejected the privatization of educational institutions and held protests in the regard, and they had termed this process ominous for the country and its future.

“But still the government was bent over privatizing these institutions by setting aside all these protests.”

The MMA leaders said that the privatization of educational institutions would result in closing their doors for students of the poor and middle class families, and result in making the education costlier, which was a negation of those who were raising slogans of “education for all”.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Association has termed the transfer of St. Patrick’s and St. Joseph’s College to the Catholic Board illegal.

The association in a press release issued here on Sunday has termed this transfer illegal and an act of favouritism and defiance of the law.

The Catholic Association demanded of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court and chief justice of the Supreme Court to “look into this illegal affair”.

—PPI