Shortage of qualified teachers: Commerce faculty in various colleges may be closed

The faculty of commerce is likely to be closed in many public sector colleges of the city due to shortage of teachers in the said discipline, it was learnt on Tuesday. Sources said that Director General Colleges, Sindh, had also sent a recommendation to the Sindh Secretary Education to shut commerce faculty in some of the city colleges, which were facing shortage of commerce teachers.
Sources claimed that there was not a single commerce teacher in many colleges of the metropolis including City Commerce College (Morning), Metroville College, Allama Iqbal Government Girls College, Government Boys College Konkar Village, Government Degree Boys College Jungle Shah, Government Degree Boys College Razzaqabad, and Government Degree College Mango Pir. Thousands of students were enrolled in these institutions, sources added.
An official said that there were some 50 commerce qualified teachers in government colleges to facilitate over 30,000 students. He added that some 200 teachers were needed to run the commerce faculties of the colleges in a smooth way. Sources said that many colleges also lacked teachers for English subject while others had only one or two English teachers to cater to the needs of 1,100 to 2,200 students. Physics, Chemistry and Botany were also among the most affected subjects because of the teachers' shortage. The government has established numerous buildings with state-of-the-art facilities and is also planning to establish new colleges in the city without thinking how these colleges would be run in the absence of teachers.
Professor Iftikhar Azmi, General Secretary Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), said that there was a shortage of not only commerce but also English teachers in the public sector colleges of the city. He said that 100-150 teachers retired every year, but no replacements were being made to cater to the needs of students.
Citing Shams Pir Degree College, he said there are only seven teachers to conduct 96 practical and theory classes. No one can discharge such a difficult duty. Shams Pir Degree College, established some eight years ago, lacked basic faculty facilities to teach the enrolled students, Azami said, adding it require 21 lecturers, 8 assistant professors and 3 associates professor immediately to run the affairs in smooth way.
He noted that students and teachers of the commerce faculty at the city's several government colleges are faced with serious problems to carry out academic activities properly because of over enrolment of students and scarcity of teachers for the subject. He said that SPLA has three core issues in its charter of demands, including time scale, pay scale and shortage of teachers.
He said that it is a matter of regret and concern that authorities are taking no measure to pull out the educational process form such horrible problems. Azmi informed public sector colleges across the province facing shortage of 4600 teachers as about 6,000 college teachers are working against the required strength of 10,500. Situation in government colleges is going from bad to worst as prominent colleges in city are also lacking even English teachers including DJ Science College, SM Arts & Commerce College, St. Lawrence College and Women College. Officials in education department pointed out that number of teachers is lower as compared to the increasing number of students in these government institutions, brought about the trouble.
Although the government is working to improve the overall condition of such colleges and in this regard it has a plan to revise Sanctioned Number of Employees (SNE) to appoint teachers, he said. For this Sindh Education department had announced 1200 vacancies of lecturers through Sindh Public Service Commission; the process of recruitment is still is under way.
Some 80000 students are enrolled in 137 colleges of Karachi where some 2000 teachers are serving including 35 professors, 300 associate professors. In this regard when scribe contacted DG Colleges Sindh Dr Nasir Ansar he refused to comment by saying he is busy.