KARACHI: Teachers and non-teaching staff of at least eight major public sector universities will go on a day-long strike on Wednesday (today) to protest against what they described as “continued government interference in the matters of universities” under the controversial Sindh Universities Laws Act 2013.

The strike will be observed at: Karachi University (KU); NED University of Engineering and Technology; Sindh University, Jamshoro; University of Agriculture, Tandojam; Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering and Technology, Nawabshah; Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro and at its Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Khairpur Mir campus; Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, and its Shikarpur campus; and Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.

The strike call is given by the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (Fapuasa)-Sindh chapter, and supported by All Sindh Universities Officers Welfare Federation representing the non-teaching staff of these universities.

“We are forced to suspend academic activities for a day because the government hasn’t paid any heed to our shared concerns that teachers have been raising for the past three years on the controversial amendments to the universities act,” said president Fapuasa, Dr Mir Shahnawaz Talpur.

Representatives of the non-teaching staff had also extended support to the strike, he added.

Highlighting the staff’s reservations, he said frustration prevailed among both teaching and non-teaching staff over the hostile attitude of the government insisting on making controversial appointments at universities.

“We demand that the government honour the agreement it had made with teachers and withdraw these appointments, which are a strategy to curb the autonomous status of higher education institutions in the province,” he said.

Concerns, he pointed out, also existed over the government’s reluctance in releasing the financial grant already announced by it.

“The government is ruining institutions ad hoc.”

Fapuasa general secretary Dr Shakeel Farooqi demanded that all vacant administrative posts should be publicised and filled with the help of a selection board under relevant rules and regulations.

“Appointment of retired staff on key administrative posts is not only a burden on government exchequer but also an obstacle in the promotion of serving employees,” he said.

He blamed the government for what he described as a “crisis at KU over the actions of the incumbent finance director” and said it was the result of “wrong and impractical policies of the government”.

Teacher representatives also demanded uniform financial benefits for teaching and non-teaching staff and strongly criticised the government for depriving KU employees of leave encashment, which, they said, was being given to all employees at other universities.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016