College teachers sprayed away from demanding ‘rights’

KARACHI: As dozens of disgruntled teachers of public colleges sat near the Sindh Assembly, demanding their rights, the government unleashed water cannons on them. Members of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) from 263 colleges across the province held a general body meeting at DJ Science College before marching towards the Sindh Assembly to present their demands. They were stopped near the Sindh secretariat around 2pm, where they staged a sit-in. As their protest entered its sixth hour, officials fired water at them through canons to disperse them. Resolute teachers first tried to stand their ground, but then fought back. The pelted police with stones but soon were forced to disperse and take shelter in the college. SPLA central vice president professor Karim Narejo told The Express Tribune that at least 12 teachers, including Hyderabad region president Shahjahan Panhwar and Karachi press secretary Aziz Memon were detained while dozens of others sustained injuries when the police lashed out with batons and the water cannon. Professor Narejo said that the teachers were demanding their long-pending promotions from grade 17 to 18 and from grade 18 to 19. “Due to the present government’s unfair and damaging policies, merely 6,000 faculty members make up the provincial colleges’ teaching workforce against total number of 10,200 sanctioned posts,” he said. “The Sindh government is about to destroy the college education system by not filling up around 4,000 vacant posts through appointments and promotions,” he added. Unlike other provinces, the Sindh government has yet to adopt the four-tier formula for the promotion of college teachers, professor Narejo said. He added that while the Sindh government offers no allowances to the MPhil teachers, it has also stopped giving PhD allowances since 2008.