Teachers announce massive protest in Sindh

KARACHI: The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association called for a boycott of academic activities, which Sindh college professors conducted on Monday as part of their ongoing protest regarding promotion, staffing, and allowance issues, which have remained unaddressed for extended periods.

SPLA President Prof Munawwar Abbas announced that the association will stage a sit-in outside Bilawal House in Karachi on February 12 to press the provincial government to address its demands.

The teachers began their demonstrations more than one month ago, yet the Sindh government and the College Education Department have failed to provide any substantial responses to their protests.

The association demands implementation of the five-tier formula, which requires departmental promotion committees to fill thousands of vacant lecturer posts while the organization needs to conduct Board-I and Board-II meetings and revise its sanctioned staff strength according to student-teacher ratios.

SPLA demands the establishment of new colleges that will meet the educational requirements of the province. The organization demands the establishment of equitable transfer and posting guidelines, immediate employment of non-teaching personnel, and betterment of college facilities, including furniture and laboratory equipment, together with the provision of textbooks for computer science, commerce, and arts subjects.

The teachers demand appointments based on merit, together with restoration of their suspended allowances and payment of MPhil and PhD allowances according to court judgments.

Teachers chose to increase their protest activities because the college authorities refused to resolve their issues after multiple meetings with Prof Abbas. The boycott was joined by office-bearers who represented Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur, while they confirmed their support for the protest.