ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Tenure Track Association (APTTA) has welcomed approval of the technical supplementary grant by the federal government, which aims to increase the salaries of university teachers hired on Tenure Track System (TTS).

In a statement, the spokesperson of APTTA said, this decision is a significant step towards recognising the contributions made, and hardships faced by TTS faculty members, whose salaries have been static since 2021.

TTS faculty members have endured several years of unprecedented inflation without the benefit of a regular increase in their salaries, said APTTAChairman Dr Asif Ali.

Dr Ali said that recently the federal government has released Rs1.5 billion for TTS teachers on the direction of court.

He said APTTA extends its sincere gratitude to prime minister, finance minister and the education minister for their efforts in addressing the long-standing demand TTS faculty members, seeking increase in salary.

This projected increase will have a positive impact on the lives of thousands of faculty members and their families across Pakistan, Dr Asif Ali added.

He said that while APTTA appreciates this decision, there are several major concerns regarding the implementation of the office memorandum issued by the finance division.

He said highly qualified teachers wanted to see uniform salary structure, as firstly, APTTA urges the authorities to ensure that the salary

increase is applied uniformly across different cadres, maintaining the same rate of increase as has been the practice since the introduction of the TTS in 2005.

This will guarantee fairness and equity in the salary structure, preventing any potential disparities or anomalies.

Secondly, APTTA emphasises the importance of maintaining a standardised salary package for all TTS faculty members across higher education institutions in Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement APTTA said, since the introduction of the TTS in 2005, faculty members have been receiving the same salary package across the country, and we believe that this uniformity should be preserved to promote consistency and fairness.

It futher said, we also stress that the BPS package used as a reference for determining the TTS package should be either the one provided to employees of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) or the BPS package given to a federal university like Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. This will ensure transparency and fairness in the salary calculation process.

Furthermore, we expect that the salary of TTS faculty members will be automatically raised by the same percentage given to BPS employees, whenever and whatever increase is given to BPS employees of federal universities.

This will guarantee that TTS faculty members receive a fair and equitable salary adjustment.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2025