KARACHI: Expressing serious concern over the closure of a day care centre, teachers at Karachi University (KU) have urged the women development department not to discontinue its assistance for running the facility that had been serving several parents employed on the campus.

Sources said the facility jointly run by the directorate of women development and the university was established in 2012 under a scheme, which was revisited twice and finally ended on June 30, 2022.

Speaking to Dawn, representatives of Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) said the centre was closed down a week ago after the women development department conveyed to the university administration that the scheme under which the day care centre was set up had ended and now there was a need for a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the administration.

“Under the old agreement, the university was responsible for maintenance and payment of utility bills and the department had provided the staff. Now, the department wants the university to take whole responsibility of running the centre,” explained Prof Shah Ali-ul-Qader heading Kuts.

The university, he said, presently had no qualified staff for child day care, which was a specialised field.

KU Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid Mehmood Iraqi said he recently received a draft of the new agreement seeking complete operation of the facility by the university.

“The female staff on the campus has been facing a lot of problems after the closure of the centre. It’s unfortunate that the women development department instead of facilitating the working women more has taken a unilateral decision for its closure,” he said.

“I will intend to take up this matter with the women development minister next week. Right now, we don’t have specialised staff to run the facility,” the VC said, adding that the space and land belonged to the university and the department used to charge parents for the service.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2022