ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court is set to take up a petition filed by top professors of Pakistan’s leading universities seeking implementation of the Tenure and Track System (TTS) and appropriate remuneration, on Monday.

The petition was filed by 166 highly qualified faculty members from across the country seeking action to avert brain drain and protect the country’s future in higher education.

“Inaction on the part of Finance Division is causing colossal damage to teachers and if their grievances are not addressed immediately, it is bound to adversely affect the academic and research activities in the universities,” said Dr Sadia Masood, one of the petitioners.

“The government must wake up and fulfill its commitment to keep highly qualified teachers, which make 8 per cent of the country’s teaching staff at universities, motivated,” she said.

The government introduced the TTS in 2007 with an idea to improve the quality of education and to hire highly qualified teachers who could help improve the quality of education, promote the culture of research and assist students.

The TTS was to ensure a 35 per cent gap in salaries of the TTS faculty and the other teaching staff appointed on the basis of Basic Pay Scale (BPS). However, now the BPS faculty members are drawing more salaries than those hired under the TTS.

Initially, the government constituted a task force and designed a policy and approached these teachers. Around 4,000 PhD holders, majority of whom were foreign qualified, quit their jobs to become part of the government’s special initiative on education.

In addition, the HEC started a faculty development programme under which hundreds of students were offered scholarships for higher studies up to PhD level. The government signed an agreement with them making it compulsory for them to return after completion of their studies and serve in Pakistan for at least three years.

However, the government has revised the salaries and packages of the TTS professors only three times in the last 17 years. They were initially offered special packages which are no longer competitive. However, there is no clarity how and who will address their grievances.

In 2021, the Finance Division through the Higher Education Commission signed a MoUwith the universitiesthat ensured that their pay structure would be 35 per cent higher than the normal pay structure.

The teachers have now approached the IHC as a last hope after trying to get their issue addressed by relevant forums, including parliamentary committees.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2024