Ever since militants kidnapped its first Vice-Chancellor Ajmal Khan some two years ago, the Islamia College University (ICU), formerly known as historic Islamia College, Peshawar, has been plagued by some chronic issues. Bickering and serious rifts between administration and faculties over various issues have vitiated its atmosphere.
The Islamia College Peshawar was given the status of a charted University way back in 2009 and was supposed to be run under its own Act 2009 but the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government introduced University Model Act 2012 which was applied to 12 public sector universities including ICU and excluding Peshawar University without any obvious reason.
The ICU went without any acting or permanent Vice Chancellor for six months. Then Haider Shah, a senior professor (Dean) was appointed as acting VC but differences kept mounting because the newly emerged University had no selection board, syndicate and senate – these are the prerequisites for smooth running of the Universities. Then a female Prof Dr Noor Jahan took over charge as acting VC four months ago. According to the University Model Act 2012, all the 12 public sector universities in KP were asked to hold elections for their own selection boards, syndicates and senates.
But Islamia College University Teachers Association (ICUTA) objected to one of the provisions of the Act 2012 which entitles vice-chancellors to suspend, punish and remove, in accordance with prescribed procedure, officers, teachers and other employees of the university from the service.
This and numerous other factors left the formation of governing bodies, selection board, syndicate and senate, of the ICU in limbo.
The last selection board meeting of the ICU in 2009 was held under the Act 2009 that was followed by ICU Syndicate in February 2010 and since then the University is being run on ad hocism, as out of a total strength of 230 faculty members, 104 teachers are working on ad hoc, contract and daily wages basis whereas 30 people of the administrative staff including the key positions of ICU Registrar and Director Admissions do not have any permanent position.
A source told this reporter that the election for syndicate was announced in September but later postponed without assigning any reason. Again in October the elections for Syndicate and Senate were to be held and all formalities were fulfilled but postponed indefinitely.
The source added that because of postponement of elections the future of 104 teaching faculty members plus 30 non-teaching staff hanged in the balance and it also resulted into brain drain.
“A young qualified person joins us, gets a tough training here but quits after sometime when he or she grabs another good opportunity somewhere else due to job security and it is casting an adverse effect on the whole administrative and academic system of the ICU. The Universities are run not by the VCs as such but by the statuary bodies -- Syndicate and Senate-- which is unfortunately not in case of the ICU,” the source maintained.
Recently, the kidnapped vice-chancellor, Ajmal Khan, was given extension till 2016. During this period no other VC could be appointed on permanent basis while problem is that though the acting VC enjoys all the powers of a permanent VC but still he/she is unable to address all these issues because of legal hurdles.
“I have been serving here in this so-called prestigious educational institution for the last more than 12 years and so are my few other colleagues, but we are still uncertain about our future. Raising funds is another big issue for this institution. Time and again we hear that ICU is running short of funds even for staff salaries. In such uncertain situation how people can give their best,” a contract lecturer in the ICU while pleading anonymity questioned.
When approached by Dawn, the acting Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Noor Jahan declined to comment on the issue. She, however, said: “I am doing my best to overcome all problems and issues being faced by the ICU. We have formed various committees for arranging centenary celebrations in 2013, it will be a mega event, ICU will emerge as a successful and shinning institution with all its past glory and prestige as it enjoys a unique place in history.”
A senior member of ICUTA, on condition of anonymity said the new act will give unprecedented autocratic powers to the vice-chancellor, who may abuse this authority for suppressing any dissenting voice and victimising with impunity all those who may not agree with him/her. “We are not against all the provisions of the new act and also we are not alone in this struggle. five other public universities including Teachers Associations of the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar (UET), Gomal University (D. I. Khan), Hazara University, Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) and Agriculture University, Peshawar are also strongly protesting University Model Act 2012.
“However, the other public universities in KP have elected their syndicates, senates and selection boards but we are still without them,” he regretted.
“Who will run the affairs of the ICU after all if the chronic issues are not resolved. More than half of the staff is working half-heartedly on temporary basis, and I think the Senior Alumni Association (SLS) should also try to play its due role for fixing the pending problems of the historic institution. Male or female VC is not an issue. Though a political appointee, she is still very competent. The Higher authorities don’t want to hold elections for syndicate and senate because they think that majority vote will go to their opponent group. This is the real and core issue,” he explained.
Experts believe that ad hocism and political interference will ruin the ICU and the Higher Education Department (HED) should immediately chalk out a plan after taking all the stakeholders into confidence that could ensure a peaceful administrative and academic environment.