KARACHI: Complaints of delayed results are becoming rampant at Karachi University (KU) where a teacher reportedly has failed to submit results of a subject even after more than a year, it emerged on Wednesday.

The vice chancellor is said to have recently received two applications against the physics teacher; one from the chemistry department students who have taken physics as a subsidiary subject and the other from the chemistry department chairperson.

The affected students are enrolled in the university’s BS evening programme.

“All our requests for the release of our results have fallen on deaf ears. In fact whenever we try to remind our physics teacher about the delay in results, he threatens us that he would fail us,” says one of the letters addressed to the vice chan­cellor.

The students also complained about the ‘attitude’ of another teacher who, they stated, had failed most students in the class and had refused their request for paper’s re-checking.

Earlier, BS students of physics department (evening programme), also wrote to the vice chancellor and complained about the same physics teacher. “Our results haven’t been released for two years. The teacher irked by our repeated requests to release results did temporarily post results on the notice board (of second and third semesters) but failed 80pc students.

“Students met him a number of times on the issue but to no avail. In fact he threatened us that if we continued to insist on results, he would fail us. Because of these reasons, we could neither get ourselves transferred to another department nor apply for any job,” the letter says.

Speaking to Dawn, senior KU teachers said that complaints of delayed submission of results had become common. That teacher had made it his habit as he had delayed results many times in the past. A number of teachers and students had complained against him, they said.

The KU registrar refused to talk on the issue, citing that the university’s evening programme director should be consulted. Upon contact, KU evening programme director Prof Abid Hasnain confirmed that complaints had been received against the teacher and he had forwarded one complaint to the department chairperson while the other to the vice chancellor.

“These issues come directly under the domain of the department chairperson to whom I have forwarded students’ application,” he said while refusing to discuss the subject any further.The physics teacher, Dr Intikhab Ulfat, holds the administrative position of the university’s foreign students adviser and also acts as a tabulator in the examination department responsible for preparing results of university’s affiliated colleges. He also teaches at Iqra University (a private institution), besides being an executive member of Karachi University Teachers Society, sources said.

Replying to Dawn queries, he admitted that results had been delayed in the past as well as in recent months due to factors that were beyond his control. “I have been lately working in a very hostile environment at the department. There have been incidents when I found out that the results I submitted hadn’t been forwarded for tabulation,” he said.

He added that he never complained against such elements, because he wanted to resolve the matter at a low level. “I don’t really want to discuss these issues, because the situation has changed now. A new department chairperson has been appointed and I am thinking of tabulating my own results,” he said.

According to Dr Ulfat, he had already submitted the results which had been awaited for the past two years, while those delayed for more than a year were being tabulated at present.

“If you come and meet me, you would know that I am a decent person. I could never threaten students,” he said when asked about another complaint against him.

Published in Dawn, May 21th, 2015

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