LAHORE: On the call of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA Pakistan), teachers and non-teaching staff in universities across the country observed Black Day and strongly protested against the education policy of the government.
On Black Day, thousands of university teachers from all provinces across the country wore black armbands to protest against the anti-education measures taken by the government.
FAPUASA Pakistan Central President Dr. Amjad Abbas Magsi led a protest rally from Punjab University and hinted at a protest sit-in for not withdrawing the budget cut.
He said that in the last few years, the number of universities across the country has increased to 150, but the total recurring grant, which was previously frozen at the level of 65 billion, has been eliminated by the Federal Government in the upcoming budget.
He said that the size of the federal government’s budget has increased by 300% and in the previous election all the government parties promised in their manifesto to increase the education budget to 3-4% of the GDP, and now they refused to provide financial support to the provincial universities. After which the universities are going to face the worst economic conditions. If this happens, an increase in university fees will be inevitable, after which the doors of higher education will be forever closed to poor students.
On the call of FAPUASA Central, protests were also held in major universities of Punjab, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, University of Okara and Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The demonstration organized at GC University Lahore was led by the President of FAPUASA Punjab Chapter Dr. Khawar Nawazish and the Central Information Secretary Dr Ahtisham Ali. The protests in Balochistan were led by the President of Balochistan Chapter Kaleemullah Bareech, the protests of KPK universities were led by the central general secretary, Dr. Muhammad Uzair and the provincial president Dr Humayun Khan, while the protests in Sindh were led by the president of the Sindh Dr Akhtiar Ali Ghumro.
During the protests, the teachers of the universities across the country wore Black Ribbons and they demanded the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif to give a positive response to the demands made by FAPUASA Pakistan, otherwise the teachers have to lock down the universities and there will be no way out.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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