KU teachers stage protest over financial crisis. In protest of the over-a-year-long nonpayment of dues, the Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) will begin an indefinite strike on Friday (today).
In an interview, KUTS Secretary Dr. Faizan-ul-Hassan Naqvi stated that the strike would go on for a long period of time in protest of the financial and administrative crises until the teacher’s body decides otherwise.
Naqvi further stated that the university’s academic and research endeavors had been hampered by the failure to approve the budget for the KU for the previous four years.
“The teachers in the evening programme have not been paid their arrears for the past one-and-a-half years, while the permanent faculty members are yet to receive the increment announced in the provincial government’s budget four months ago,” he said.
“The visiting faculty are being hired at a rate of Rs600 per lecture, which after deduction is reduced to Rs480. Even this is not being paid.”
Furthermore, the KU’s structure and facilities were in collapse implying administration mismanagement, Naqvi claimed, lamenting that students were flocking to private universities as a result of the problems in the public sector.
As KU teachers stage protest over financial crisis, earlier in the day, the KUTS held a general body meeting in the art auditorium and passed a resolution to boycott all academic activities at the varsity until further notice.
It also supported the teachers’ strike in the evening programme, which has been ongoing since September 14. The meeting demanded that the Sindh governor and chief minister take notice of the problems and form a commission to inquire into their causes.
