LAHORE: Declaring the higher education sector in serious turmoil, the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) has demanded removal of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri and his entire team for their alleged failure to implement policies regarding universities.
This was one of the several demands raised during a joint meeting of FAPUASA Central and Punjab chapters presided over by its president Dr Sohail Yousaf on Wednesday. FAPUASA Vice President Dr Nimat Ullah Leghari and Punjab Chapter President Prof Dr Mumtaz Anwar Chaudhry and representatives from all the other universities also participated in the meeting.
During the discussion, all the participants presented a charter of demand and threatened the federal and provincial governments to hold protest demonstrations in front of the HEC on August 24 in case issues were not resolved.
They said the agreement signed between the FAPUASA Punjab Chapter by Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun for absolving "uniform model universities act" should be honoured and the vice chancellors should chair meetings of the Syndicate and faculty should be given proper representation in the Syndicate of new universities across Punjab.
The meeting observed that the higher education system of the country is in serious turmoil and demanded opening of the universities immediately after Eidul Azha by ensuring strict compliance of the corona SOPs.
Expressing concerns over (alleged) apathy of the HEC officials towards university teachers, FAPUASA President Dr Sohail Yousaf claimed that the policies of Dr Banuri and his team were damaging the higher education sector. He called upon the federal government to replace Dr Banuri and "save" the higher education sector in Pakistan. He said teachers from all universities across Pakistan would participate in the protest demonstration to be held on August 24.
He said the endorsement of promotion/appointment of TTS faculty by the HEC was against the autonomy of the universities and it should be terminated immediately. He claimed that the composition of HEC commission is unlawful and clause 3 (b) of the ACT had repeatedly been violated by the HEC.
Dr Sohail rejected new research journals and PhD admission policies of the HEC and demanded that FAPUASA must be given representation in policy making at all levels besides time scale promotion of BPS faculty members on the analogy of TTS faculty.
The meeting demanded restoration of 75 percent tax rebate for academia and researchers and the restoration of terminated faculty members of International Islamic University, Islamabad, Gomal University, KP, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad and all other universities.
It also demanded lifting of ban on selection boards for BPS faculty in KP and Sindh universities and immediate appointments of the vice chancellors and Pro-VCs in KP universities. It was demanded that the VCs should be appointed as per criteria defined in the ACT of universities and no statutory position should be entrusted on adhoc basis. The Executive Council of the FAPUASA also resolved that the current cabinet would continue till the Covid-19 situation and the new elections would be conducted as soon as the situation resumes to normal.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020