September 15, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 14: The recent advice given by the director-general of colleges, Sindh, for a 10-minute cut in the duration of each class period at the DJ Government Science College has stirred up discontent among the teaching staff of the institution who described the move as “uncalled for interference in the affairs of the college”.

The director-general had directed the college principal to shorten the duration of a period from 40 to 30 minutes.

“We are unable to understand what prompted the DG to give the principal such a dictation, especially when neither the teachers nor the students of the college have ever objected to the length of a period,” some of the senior teachers remarked.

They argued that how could a teacher manage to complete his lecture and also satisfy the students who would raise some questions to understand some ambiguous points within 30 minutes, pointing out that students usually take several minutes to settle down in the classroom and get ready for the lecture.

Expressing their resentment over the official’s directive, most teachers maintained that it was the prerogative of a college principal to decide about the duration of a period.

A principal would always take such decisions in consultation with his colleagues, they added.

When the DJ Science College principal, Prof Chughtai, was contacted by this reporter to seek his comments, he clarified that the DG Colleges asked him during a meeting to shorten the duration of a period. “He has not issued an official directive so far in this regard,” said the principal.

He said that the normal length of a class period was 45 minutes but the duration had been curtailed by five minutes for the month of Ramazan with the consent of teachers and students.

However, he added, a further five minute cut was effected on the “insistence” of the DG colleges, Sindh. The DG had now asked him to shorten the period by another five minutes, he added.

Meanwhile, Prof Iftikhar Azmi, a leader of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), has also expressed concern over the DG’s “interference” in the administrative affairs of the college. He supported the DJ teachers’ stance that determining the period duration was the prerogative of the college principal concerned.

Terming the official’s alleged interference “unwarranted”, he said that the education authorities should refrain from indulging in such practices.