‘Ad-hoc lecturers to be appointed if SPLA’s ‘rotten eggs’ don’t return to classes’

KARACHI – Ad-hoc lecturers will be appointed in place of teachers associated with the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) if the “rotten eggs” do not return to their classes, threatened Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq on Wednesday at the floor of the Sindh Assembly.
Responding to a point of order raised by MPA Nusrat Saher Abbasi about the government’s highhandedness against lecturers and professors of the SPLA, Haq argued that all demands of the association had been accepted, but they are not ready to impart knowledge to poor students.
“This is not a genuine issue, it is an election gimmick as SPLA elections are imminent. These teachers start protesting without any valid reason to obtain the sympathies of their voters,” Haq said, adding that the SPLA is not even a collective bargaining authority that it can negotiate with the government.
The minister claimed that after accepting all SPLA demands, they were asked to return to their colleges. The teachers, however, are not interested in teaching in government institutions but want to run their private tuition centres. “The SPLA is a social welfare organisation, and it does not suit professors of grade 20 to 22 to take to the road and start agitating on non-issues. They are bound to follow services rules,” the minister said.
Haq said that when the Pakistan People’s Party came into power, only eight professors were employed grade 22, but now their number has been increased to more than 100 and promotions have been handed to 2,200 professors and assistant professors. “Time scale does not apply to professors and lecturers, as this policy is meant for primary teachers.
As things stand, only nine lectures are awaiting promotions,” he said, adding that a summary of time-scale had been sent to the chief minister for formal approval. The education minister said that President Asif Ali Zardari has imposed an education emergency in the province because teachers were perpetuating the apathetic state of education in Sindh.
He suggested the formation of a committee comprising Sindh Assembly members, which visits different colleges in Sindh and observes the standard of education being imparted by SPLA teachers.