Varsities Shut Against Slashed Funding

LAHORE/KARACHI/MULTAN ,Pakistan News: The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Wednesday gave September 24 as a deadline to the government for the acceptance of their demands after a countrywide protest was held against the move to slash the funding to the public sector varsities.

There was no academic activity in the varsities as the staff and the students responded positively to the protest call after the government failed to yield to the justified demand of not curtailing the funds to Higher Education Commission (HEC), which is responsible for managing the affairs of the 72 state-run universities in the country.

In Lahore, the academic staff of various universities of the metropolis staged a protest demonstration in front of Lahore Press Club, which was led by FAPUASA President Dr Mehr Saeed Akhtar.

The protesters chanted slogans in favour of their demands and criticised the govt for the decision to cut the HEC budget.

The speakers condemned the attitude of Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh with HEC Chairman Javed Leghari and the vice-chancellors of the public sector varsities, and demanded his immediate resignation.

They demanded of the government to increase the budget to Rs90 billion along with a hike in the annual grants to the universities, 50 per cent increase in salaries and 15 per cent medical allowance.

They also demanded of the government to release the regular grant immediately for the teachers doing their PhDs abroad. They also opposed the fee structure of the universities and asked the government to pay the amount collected from self-finance scheme to the universities. They also called upon the government to release development funds allocated for the varsities.

The FAPUASA call received partial response, as NED Engineering University remained open while there was no education-related activity in the University of Karachi, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUH) and Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology.

The Karachi University Teachers' Society (KUTS) held a general body meeting at the Arts Auditorium, which demanded of the federal government to shut down HEC and issue grants directly to the public sector universities.

A demonstration was held outside the Dow Medical College against the govt move. The protesters described the decision as 'a murder of higher education in the country'.

In Multan, the academic staff of Bahauddin Zakariya University boycotted the classes, as they termed the biased behaviour of the federal finance minister a conspiracy against the country.

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