KARACHI, Feb 21: The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) has expressed its grave concern over the repeated interruption of academic process in the city due to rowdyism in educational institutions.

An emergency meeting of the SPLA Karachi region, chaired by Professor Syed Riaz Ahsan was held here on Monday. The meeting observed that the political parties had miserably failed to rein in the rowdy elements in their offshoot students' bodies and were responsible for this ugly situation.

The meeting also expressed its deep concern that on the alleged instructions of CCPO Tariq Jameel, male and female principals of the city colleges had been asked since last two days to report to various police stations on Feb 21 morning, so that they could be driven in police vans to some auditorium in Clifton, where the Sindh home minister could address them.

The meeting expressed its shock and astonishment that the provincial minister of education, secretary education, city Nazim, DCO, EDO, DO (colleges) and other officials of the education department were unaware of these police orders.

"It seemed that the education department had handed over all its powers to the home department," the meeting observed. It said that on the intervention of the city Nazim that program was scraped.

The SPLA demanded of the Sindh government to end what it called a joke with the educational institutions and give the slot of provincial education minister to what it called some education-friendly person.

It also demanded that on the pattern of the Punjab province, some serious steps should be taken to promote education in Sindh. The meeting decided to convene a press conference on Tuesday evening to make public the ugly situation faced by the educational institutions. -PPI