Punjab University (PU) teachers and educationists are showing reservations over the Punjab government’s ignorance towards the dean of sciences’ appointment, as according to sources, Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) officials are cheating the Punjab CM on the issue and providing him with wrong information about eligible candidates, Pakistan Today has learnt.Educationists and PU teachers said that appointment of the Dean of Sciences was an important issue but Shahbaz Sharif was least interested in this regard, as he never bothered to conduct interviews of candidates. PU teachers said that despite tall claims of the Punjab government in connection with education promotion, appointment of the dean has been ignored.
They demanded demanded Shahbaz personally conduct interviews of candidates as he did in case of appointing vice-chancellors (VC). Educationists also demanded that the CM take notice of the HED and investigate that which officials are responsible for delaying appointment of the dean and involved in nepotism. A tense situation is being witnessed at the PU and among educationists on appointment of the dean, as according to a number of educationists, faculty members were disheartened due to ignorance of the CM. PU Dean of Sciences Dr Shahida Husnain retired after completing her tenure and the PU VC last month sent three names including the most senior faculty members Dr Muhammad Ali of the PU Space Sciences Department, Dr Haris Rashid of the Centre of Higher Energy Physics and Dr Saeed Akhtar of the Statistics Department to the CM for appointment as dean of sciences.
According to sources, all these teachers are among reputed educationists of the varsity and have enough contributions to their respective fields. The HED was supposed to send three names to the CM but it sent only one. They said that a group was behind the situation and disclosed that this group spread rumours last week against Dr Mujahid Kamran so that they could influence the process of the dean’s appointment. According to a PU teacher, they respect all three candidates but their demands are following merit and honesty in selecting the dean of sciences, as all basic sciences subjects including physics, mathematics, statistics, geology, information technology and some other science departments fall under the dean’s jurisdiction.
According to teachers, all modern advance researches were being held at these departments. A teacher, seeking anonymity, said that last week, the CM conducted interviews of educationists for appointment of VCs at public-sector universities. He said that the whole education community appreciated the act of the CM, as it showed his commitment with education but said that it is disheartening he did not give attention to appointment of the dean and suggested that the CM should conduct also interviews for the post. He said that PU teachers want the CM to scrutinise profiles of all candidates and make sure that none of them is involved in plagiarism and political activities. The teacher said that the post is very sensitive and some groups are also making efforts for appointment of the dean from their group and requested the CM to kindly secure the varsity from politics.
He said that the CM should also find out that which candidates are loyal to the promotion of education and stay in their offices and deliver lectures on time. The teacher said that some elements in the HED are involved in giving wrong information to the CM about the issue and instead of relying on the HED, the CM should conduct interviews himself. A senior PU teacher said that their concerns and criticism on the CM is right, as the faculty of science is the largest faculty of the PU consisting of five departments, three institutes, seven centres, two colleges and the doctoral programme coordination committee. He said that all administrative and academic matters pertaining to teachers and students revolve around the dean of sciences and the process of research in the field of sciences will be disturbed if the CM did not made a decision on merit.
PU teachers criticise CM’s apathy towards dean’s appointment
