KARACHI: The government drew severe criticism from university teachers as well as from civil society representatives at a convention held on Thursday for ‘its brazen violation of merit and rules’ in appointments and promotions, which, they said, would have far-reaching implications not just on the institutions, but also on society receiving ‘substandard products’ from universities.

Along with a unanimous demand for withdrawal of controversial amendments to the law on universities, speakers also called for revival of student unions.

The programme was organised by the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (Fapuasa) at the press club on the ‘Autonomy of universities’.

One of the most hard-hitting speeches at the event was by Dr Inayat Magsi of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana. He described ‘government malpractices’ at universities as a grave injustice ruining institutions, which, he said, was hidden from public eye.

These malpractices, he said, were bound to affect the quality of education and the time was not far when there would be hard to find qualified doctors. “The government is indulged in blatant murder of merit. If this continued, it will turn medical universities and hospitals into public slaughter houses.”

At least three appointments against rules, he pointed out, had been made at his university in recent months; two posts had been created out of the post of controller of examinations (for postgraduates and undergraduates) while a senior lecturer who was rejected by the Pakistan Medical Dental Council for the post of senior registrar had been appointed as the pro-vice chancellor.

“I am very unfortunate because my university (Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University) exists nowhere. No extension has been made in the infrastructure of the Chandka Medical College in nine years after it was granted the university status,” he said.

Further elaborating this point, Dr Irfana Mallah, president of Fapuasa-Sindh chapter, also heading the Sindh University Teachers Association, said the government was upgrading medical colleges just to make money through political appointments.

“Universities are not money-making factories. Education should be treated as a service and not a business,” she said, adding that the government was hardly providing recurring grant to universities and there was no allocation for research.

The 18th amendment, she said, was a ‘government ploy’. “Have you given powers to the mayors in the local government law?” she asked, clarifying that teachers had demanded devolution of education and not devaluation of education.

On behalf of the teaching community, she demanded that the government approve the draft submitted by teachers on amendments without further delay, de-politicised the search committee for selection of vice chancellor and transfer powers of issuing NOC for foreign visit from the chancellor to vice chancellors.

The teachers’ convention, the first in four decades, she said, was the beginning of a struggle.

Advocate Zia Awan, senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin and Mirza Ali Azhar of Pakistan Medical Association described the situation as ‘alarming’ and extended their support to the teachers’ struggle.

Fapuasa president Dr Naimatullah Laghari regretted the harsh treatment being meted out to teachers in Sindh by the government and said the situation was better in other provinces. He demanded that the government provide similar health care and housing facilities to teachers in Sindh as were being given to their counterparts in other provinces.

He criticised the Sindh government promotion criteria for university teachers and called upon the government to follow the example of other provinces.

President of Kuts Dr Shakeel Farooqi, Dr Usman Ali Shah of the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Dr Kaleem Bareech of Balochistan University, Ameer Chandio of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur and advocate Syed Shamimul Hasan also spoke.

‘Rs5bn for universities’

The provincial secretary of finance announced during a programme held in Karachi University on Thursday that the government had allocated Rs5 billion for the 19 public sector universities while it had already released an amount of Rs100 million to universities.

He was speaking at a seminar titled “Strategy of provincial budget” organised by the department of economics in the university auditorium.

Sindh finance secretary Sohail Rajput said despite the passage of the 18th amendment, the federal education ministry and the Higher Education Commission were still functional and powers from the federal government to the province hadn’t been completely transferred in letter and spirit.

The federal government, he said, had not yet released the allotted funds to the provincial governments for the public sector universities, which had delayed release of grants to universities in Sindh.

“A mechanism with respect to student strength and research performance of each university will be devised. The KU will be on top of such a list due to its extensive research output and being the biggest public sector university,” he told the audience.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2016