LAHORE: A delegation of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) leadership led by the Central President Dr. Amjad Magsi continued the series of meetings with political and government leaders at the Parliament House to resolve the problems faced by university teachers and higher education.
The delegation led by Central President Dr. Amjad Abbas Magsi, along with Central General Secretary: Dr. Muhammad Uzair, Central Vice President Dr. Mazhar Iqbal, Central Information Secretary Dr. Ahtisham Ali, President Balochistan Chapter Dr. Kaleemullah Bareach and President Islamabad Chapter Dr. Iqbal Ahmed attended the meetings.
The FAPUASA representatives met the Deputy Chairman Senator Saidaal Khan and informed him about their concerns regarding the government policy. Acknowledging the services of the university teachers, Deputy Chairman Senate promised to convey these concerns to the top leadership of the PML-N, especially the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, and help resolve these issues.
In this context, another important meeting was held with Federal Minister of Education Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, in which Senator Amin-ul-Haq of MQM and the female National Assembly members of MQM also participated.
The Federal Minister of Education assured the FAPUASA representatives of his full support and assured them to bring the basic issues like recurring budget and 75% tax rebate exemption and the issue of the TTS salaries to the notice of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and get them resolved.
The FAPUASA delegation said that these two measures will have an immediate impact on the middle class of country and if these problems are not resolved, the doors of higher education will be closed to the youth belonging to this class. They further added that the University teachers and researchers, who are already suffering from severe financial crisis, will find it more difficult to carry out their duties under the burden of new taxes, which will seriously affect the academic and research activities of public universities and higher education and in result the stature of higher education in country will further decline.
FAPUASA representatives held a detailed meeting with Balochistan Awami Party President, Nawabzada Khalid Magsi and General Secretary, Senator Manzoor Kakar, in which they discussed their chronic issues such as exemption on tax rebate and increase in recurring budget of the Universities. The leadership of BAP assured FAPUASA to discuss these issues with their government allies; especially the Prime Minister and Finance minister to solve them on priority, the delegation thanked them for their support.
FAPUASA Pakistan also met Senators of People's Party, Senator Taj Haider, Senator Barrister Zameer Ghomrooro and Senator Sardar Umar Ghorgej requested them to play their role in resolving the problems faced by university fraternity.
Furthermore, the FAPUASA delegation met Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and Executive Director HEC Dr. Zia-Ul-Qayyum discussed with them the long standing issues of the university teachers like HEC Grants, Tax Rebates, TTS Salaries, BPS Service Structure, and funds for HEC Research Centres. FAPUASA demanded to implement all those agenda points that were settled in the meeting between FAPUASA and HEC officials held on May 14 2024.
Chairman HEC agreed with FAPUASA leadership and promised immediate action in this regard.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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