NAROWAL: Classes remained suspended at the University of Narowal (UoN) even after the passage of eight days on Monday as contract teachers and associate lecturers continued boycott of classes for the regularisation of their job.

On the other hand, Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Tariq Mahmood said the UoN does not have any regular teaching staff.

More than 4,000 students of the university protested against the non-resumption of classes.

Contract lecturers and associate lecturers at the UoN have been boycotting the classes for over a week for the regularization of their jobs. Students have protested several times against the non-resumption of educational activities and demanded immediate notice of the situation from the Punjab government. So far, the status-quo persists as Chancellor/Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Higher Education Department and Punjab government did not take any notice of the students’ protest.

Contract lecturers and associate lecturers have announced that they will continue to protest until their demands are met.

VC Prof Mahmood says that the university has more than 50 contract lecturers and associate lecturers. He said that since the establishment of the university six years ago, no lecturers, associate lecturers, assistant professors and professors have been regularly appointed.

He said that the university was in the process of hiring regular teaching staff. The VC said that partial classes were ongoing in the university as visiting lecturers were taking their classes.

MNA Ahsan Iqbal said if he raised his voice on the problems of the university, the issue would be politicized. He said he wished to make the university a leading university of Pakistan. He alleged the government ruined the education plan.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021