PESHAWAR: The teachers of University of Peshawar went on strike here on Monday against the university administration for its failure to fill 220 vacant positions, adversely affecting studies of students.

The protesting teachers said that they would continue complete boycott of classes and other official duties including conducting examinations and taking part in admission process and official meetings.

The president of Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta), Dr Zakirullah, told Dawn that they would continue strike till convening meetings of selection board for filling the advertised positions of teachers.

He said that of 220 vacant positions, 48 were of professors, 54 of associate professors and 117 of lecturers.

Puta president says 220 posts were advertised in May 2025

He said that university administration had advertised those vacant positions in May 2025 and scrutiny of candidates was already completed. However, he said, the university administration was reluctant to convene selection board meetings despite lapse of eight months of advertisement.

As per procedure in line with the statute of the university, the final approval of selected candidates would given by the syndicate of UoP after holding selection board.

Dr Zakirullah said that UoP had more than 10,000 students, enrolled in 52 different academic departments, but the number of regular faculty members had declined sharply from around 750 to just 423. He attributed this decline to prolonged denial of promotions, absence of fresh appointments since 2018, and persistent inaction by the university administration and provincial higher education department.

He said that since 2018 around 120 teachers of the university have been retired without promotion to their next grades despite the available vacant positions.

He said that since the university administration was not taking interest in promotion of teachers, around 45 faculty members quite the historic University of Peshawar. It was a big loss to the university and its students, he added.

He said that junior teachers were quitting the university in frustration as they saw no chance of carrier progression. In the absence of regular teachers, the university administration arranged visiting teachers, who were mostly students of MPhil and PhD, he added.

“The university administration pays Rs900 to visiting faculty for attending a class,” he said.

He said that the vice-chancellor of the university would be solely responsible for consequences of the strike.

Puta has made the decision of strike in view of a unanimous resolution passed by the general body of the association in its meeting on January 12, 2026 and the executive committee meeting on January 30, according to a statement.

Later, a press conference was held on February 4 to announce the decisions and warn the university administration of the strike.

Dr Zakirullah said that sufficient time had been given to the vice-chancellor to fulfil his statutory responsibility of convening selection board meetings but in vain.

He said that University of Peshawar, one of the oldest and largest public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was rapidly losing its academic strength and national standing due to administrative neglect and government’s indifference.

The Puta president said that promotions were a fundamental right of employees under the Constitution of Pakistan and service laws. He added that university teachers, as government employees, could not be legally denied promotions once eligibility criteria were fulfilled.

He said that despite repeated meetings with the university administration and officials of higher education department, authorities continued to use delaying tactics.

The spokesperson for the university was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2026