Of the 60 government colleges in Karachi without a principal, six others are completely inactive
Despite major claims by the Sindh government about improving education standards in public tertiary institutions, official statistics from the department of tertiary education show that around 60 of 148 such institutions in Karachi have run without a principal, while the other six are completely non-functioning.
Inactive colleges are Government Girl Level Colleges, Cow Colonies, Bin Qasim City; Government Girl College, Block-N, North Nazimabad; Putra Government College, Sector 11-A, North Karachi; Government College, Kamal Khan Jokhio, Gadap City; Government Girl Undergraduate College, Darsano Chhanno, Gadap City; and Government Boys Undergraduate College, Sector 9-E, Baldia City.
There are no students registered at these institutions, while the college buildings are also empty. Meanwhile, a large number of functional colleges do not have a principal. Following the branching of the Sindh Education & Literacy Department into the school education department and college education department, junior teachers who lack the necessary administrative and teaching experience have been found holding top-19 and class-20 administrative positions in around 60 colleges.
Senior teachers who have protested against this to get their legal rights are of the view that academic and administrative activities are adversely affected in these institutions.
They said that most of these junior teachers were in the 17th grade, while the position of the principal was an approved position of the 19th or 20th class in several universities.
Therefore, in a large number of universities, 20th grade professors work as subordinates of those who sit in class 17. This situation sometimes creates conflicts between teachers in these institutions.
Interestingly, the Sindh government has promoted senior college teachers three times this year. On January 21, 184 teachers including 44 female teachers were promoted to 19th grade. Following the seniority list, on May 19, 58 teachers including 27 female teachers were promoted to 20th grade.
On July 20, 81 teachers were promoted to 20th grade. At present, 152 20th grade college professors and 910 19th grade associate professors are employed in various tertiary institutions. However, the tertiary education department does not make arrangements to appoint principals with experience in tertiary institutions operated by junior teachers or more.
This situation has resulted in an administrative crisis in universities during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Also, no public tertiary institution can hold online classes for their students. All of them have observed complete closure like other educational institutions.
‘Ad hocism’
The Secretary of Information of the Sindh Professor & Lecturer Association (SPLA), Prof. Aziz Memon said that each state university in the province has a post 19 for its principal, and the head secretary has the authority to appoint competent principals based on their administration. and teaching experience.
But, he said, such rules have not been fulfilled in recent years. In general, he pointed out, the Directorate of Higher Education issued a notice appointing someone as an administrator of a tertiary institution.
He regretted that officials did not play the book. They appointed one university teacher as the principal, ignoring the criteria, regulations, experience and seniority needed, he explained.
Prof. Memon said that large school principals should fill school principals and take care of the daily administration of the campus. However, he added, due to pressure from field workers, they could not operate these institutions effectively.
The irony, he said, was that principals acted and did not even consider themselves responsible for their work. “The government needs to follow proper procedures in posting school principals. All principals must be notified, and the principal’s position must be on a tenure basis. “
SPLA President Prof. Munawar Abbas said their association had repeatedly approached relevant authorities to end “ad hoc-ism” and appoint permanent principals in universities, but all in vain.
He claimed that because junior teachers were assigned to college, and also in the presence of hundreds of senior professors, complaints of mismanagement, corruption and bad behavior often arose. However, he regretted, this complaint has not been taken seriously by the relevant authorities.
Prof Abbas said the SPLA had recently discussed the issue with the Secretary of Higher Education Baqir Abbas Naqvi, who, he said, had assured the association that permanent principals would be appointed according to the rules.
‘Do not know’
Despite repeated attempts by The News to contact Naqvi to find out the official stance on this issue, the college education secretary remains unreachable.
However, while speaking with The News about this issue, Education Minister media coordinator Saeed Ghani Zubair Memon referred to the minister’s most recent direction in the Sindh Provincial Assembly.
Ghani has told the PA that there are specialists in 17 subjects, and that the province faces a shortage of 1,148 such teachers, while 791 specialists currently provide education.
Memon said that because this position required class 17 officials and such an appointment would be made by the Sindh Public Service Commission, the minister had been notified about it in writing. The coordinator, however, denied having knowledge in terms of the principal, making a guarantee that he would contact the relevant officials for actual data before discussing the matter with the minister.
