LAHORE, May 29: The participants in a seminar on Model University Ordinance organized by the Punjab University Academic Staff Association on Thursday adopted a resolution that the amended ordinance neither considered ground realities nor met the expectations of its clientele in particular and the society at large.

They rejected the issuance of ordinances when the legislative assemblies were in place. They said the MUO aimed at minimizing the role of teachers and students and promotion of educational institutions as business enterprises. The existing laws should be amended in consultation with teachers and students, they added.

They said vice-chancellors should be selected from amongst teachers of the universities. The effort to reduce the state role in providing higher education for economic reasons should be discouraged at all costs.

The MUO made the vice-chancellors all powerful rendering other functionaries powerless. It would lead to the worst kind of dictatorship, they claimed.

Earlier, senator Mushahid Husain said there was no reason to issue ordinances in the presence of assemblies. Parliament should also give priority to the education sector and allocate maximum resources for it, he added.

He said the MUO had not resolved the basic issues that included teachers quality, salaries and restoration of their respect and dignity.

He said he would plead teachers’ case in the Senate.

Former VC Prof Dr Khalid Hameed Sheikh said real improvement in universities would be made only when the decisions would not be taken by an individual. The VC was just a member of the syndicate, the body empowered to take decisions. The Academic Staff Association should take steps to restrain VCs from taking ‘anticipatory decisions.’

He observed that the government was continuously decreasing its role as provider of education and becoming only a facilitator in education sector.

He said the new MUO, which revolved all authority around VCs, would promote adhocism in universities.

Former VC Prof Dr Rafiq Ahmad said the universities should develop creativity in higher education to bring the country out of crisis.

He said some generals had told him that the MUO had been developed to block students and teachers unions as they created problems. The MUO would also reduce teachers representation and create hurdles in their promotions, he added.

He suggested that the federal government should announce education budget separately from the national budget.

MNA Liaquat Baloch said the federal government had implemented the ordinance in federal universities and directed the provinces to implement it in their universities. He, however, opposed promulgation of the ordinance.

He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal would soon call political parties to gather in FC College to express their opinion about the denationalization of the college.

MNA Khwaja Saad Rafiq said the MUO was an effort to control universities. It would promote class system in the country. “We will try to save teachers from MUO in the assemblies,” he said.

He said the student unions had also played their role in deteriorating the academic atmosphere in institutions. Political parties also failed to control their students organizations and directed them to work for the betterment of their institutions.

Supreme Court Bar former president Hamid Khan, Lahore High Court Bar president Abdul Rehman Ansari, PUASA president Dr Iftikhar Baloch, Prof Dr Anis Alam and students representative Naveed Anwar also rejected the MUO.