KARACHI: The teachers’ association of Karachi University (KU) has announced a complete boycott of classes from today in protest of their demands on Friday.

The decision to boycott classes was taken in the general body meeting of the teachers’ association yesterday. The association demanded that the Sindh chief minister take immediate notice of the administrative crisis at the KU and order investigations through a commission into non-approval of the university budget for six years.

The participants of the meeting expressed their anger over the appointment of part-time teachers at Rs600 per lecture and the non-payment of salaries to them for over a year and six months. “All the issues are still there as they were in the beginning. We got nothing but promises and promises only. From the payment of salaries to the closure of selection boards is a big issue,” they said.

They demanded “The salaries of the evening shift teachers should be paid in full and immediately. The selection boards should be held immediately. Penal hospitals should be restored without any delay”. “MPhil/PhD fee waiver should be restored immediately. The restoration of the dilapidated infrastructure of the university is urgently needed,” they demanded further.

“Managing the administrative matters is the responsibility of the vice chancellor and the management, not the teachers. The appointment of teachers doing PhDs as the ad hoc assistant professors, which has been approved by the Syndicate, should be restored,” they added. “Funds should be released immediately for the revival of research in the university.

The university’s budget, which has not been approved for the past six years, is a financial scandal. It should be investigated by a commission. The raise in salaries should be included in Budget 2023 without any delay,” they stated.