KARACHI: The Karachi University Teachers Society (Kuts) has demanded that the Sindh government investigate the reasons behind the ongoing chronic financial crisis at the varsity, identify the role of the management behind the irregularities and find a solution to the problem.

Teachers at the KU have been protesting over non-payment of dues for the past eight days by boycotting the exams while students continue to suffer.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Kuts President Ghufran Alam, along with others, pointed out the financial mismanagement, irregularities in budgetary records and unequal treatment in the payment of dues, claiming that administrative failures have deepened the university’s ongoing financial crisis.

Mr Alam said the teachers and employees were facing severe financial difficulties amid rising inflation and alleged that the university administration had failed to clear outstanding payments amounting to nearly Rs1 billion. The university’s overall financial deficit had reached around Rs1.5bn due to the “administrative failures and ineffective financial planning,” he said.

Exam boycott at varsity enters eighth day as protest over non-payment of dues continues

Pointing to one of the major reasons behind the crisis, he said the fee collections shown in the university budget were significantly lower than the actual amounts collected, while several high-fee academic programmes like the Digital Media Marketing, Physical Therapy, Business Sports Management and Poultry Science had not been properly incorporated into budgetary records.

He claimed that the discrepancy between the income generated by these departments and the figures reflected in the budget amounted to nearly Rs1bn annually.

Moreover, he claimed that multiple official vehicles, including old SUVs with high fuel consumption, were being used for personal purposes by individuals who were either retired or otherwise not entitled to official transport facilities, all of which contributed to the financial constraint.

Questions were also raised over the university’s last budget presented in December 2025, alleging that several expenditures had been shown despite not having actually been incurred.

Mr Alam also alleged nepotism and favouritism within the administration, claiming that preferred individuals were receiving priority payments and benefits while ordinary teachers, employees and even retired staff continued to wait for their administration, claiming that preferred individuals were receiving priority payments and benefits while ordinary teachers, employees and even retired staff continued to wait for their dues.

He urged the Sindh government to intervene immediately and hold the university administration accountable. He stressed that it needed to be investigated how deep the crisis actually is and who is responsible for it.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2026