KARACHI, May 3: How serious our policymakers and education department are towards promoting literacy and education is evident from the fact that two dozen colleges in the province including 11 in Karachi have been working for last three years without an SNE (schedule for new expenditure).

According to government rules and regulations no teaching or non-teaching staff could be recruited without prior approval of SNE. Due to unavailability of permanent staff these colleges are being run by staff borrowed from other colleges on part-time basis.

As a result, academic activities in the colleges depended on availability of ad hoc teaching staff and thousands of innocent students have to bear the brunt, due to non-completion of course.

The 24 colleges include Government Boys College Daulatpur, Government Boys College Saeedabad, Government Boys College Deplo, Government Girls College Matiari, Government Girls College Bhit Shah, Government Girls College Nasarpur, Government Girls College Tando Jan Muhammad, Government Girls College Mithi, Government Girls College Umerkot, and Government Girls College Kotri, Government Makhdoom A Rehman Shaheed Boys College Khuhra, Government Girls College Kambar and Government Girls College Meero Khan of Kambar-Shahdadkot district.

Interestingly, the government claims about prioritising female literacy but regretfully these 24 colleges without SNE include as many as 16 girls colleges.

The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) on Thursday expressed serious concern over government apathy towards approval of SNE

A high-level meeting, which was presided over by SPLA President Prof Syed Riaz Ahsan and attended by Prof. Liaquat Aziz, Prof. Manzoor Chishti, Prof. Agha Khalid, Prof. Ayub Mari, Prof. Athar Hussain Mirza, Prof. Shafqat Jokhio, Prof. Gazanfar Ali Shah and Prof. Iftikhar Muhammad Azami criticised the Sindh education minister and provincial education secretary and urged them to approve SNEs for the colleges at the earliest.

Prof. Syed Riaz Ahsan said that each of the 24 colleges had an enrolment of 800 to 900 students.

He said that the colleges had been functioning since last three years, and it was perplexing why the government had failed to sanction staff for the colleges during three years, which he said was a long time.

He said that due to paucity of funds the services of cooperative teachers were now discontinued and these colleges were being run on ad hoc basis by part-time lecturers borrowed from other colleges.

He said that principals of different colleges were running the SNE-less colleges on part-time and ad hoc basis, which was a great loss for thousands of students.

He disclosed that borrowing of lecturers and principals from other colleges on part time and ad-hoc basis was also affecting academic activities of the donor colleges, as there was a shortage of 15,000 college teachers in Sindh.

Prof. Ahsan demanded that the government should approve SNE for these colleges at an earliest to save academic future of thousands of students and to further the cause of education and literacy in the province.—PPI