The teachers of Punjab University from all the campuses have overwhelmingly rejected the protest call given by Academic Staff Association (ASA) to boycott classes, considering the move based on “hidden” and “personal” agenda and all the activities of the university were held as per routine.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, PU spokesman Khuram Shahzad has said that out of more than 1,000 teachers of Punjab University, only around 30 teachers gathered outside the Vice Chancellor’s office to record their so-called protest. He said that the Thursday happenings had proved that PUASA was doing negative politics and did not enjoy the confidence of teachers’ community anymore.
He said that PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad had visited various departments, institutes, centres, colleges and schools where classes were being held as per schedule. He said that the footage of those visits had also been released to the media as video evidence. He said that semester examinations, Quran Quiz at Hailey College, poster competitions with Punjab AIDS Control Program and other co-curricular activities were also organized as scheduled. He said that all the students performed lab tests and did their research work in laboratories as per routine.
The spokesman said that the attendance of students in the departmental libraries was as usual. He said university teachers had rejected ASA’s protest call which carried a secret agenda. The spokesman said that PU teachers are conscious and have understood the negative politics of ASA under the prevailing scenario.
He said that apparently the PUASA was demanding some benefits, most of which have already been resolved by PU administration at its end, but behind the scene they have some other ulterior motives and the administration understood who was controlling ASA’s strings. Reacting over the apparent demands of ASA, the spokesman said that it was the PU VC who talked to the Punjab Governor and other high ups to provide disparity reduction allowance to not only PU but all the universities in Punjab. Due to PU VC’s efforts, Punjab Cabinet approved DRA for the university employees across the province.
Khurram Shahzad said that PU VC in the meeting of Senate categorically announced that the DRA would be provided to the employees from June 2021 and forwarded meeting minutes for approval of the governor in time. The spokesman said that in the four-year tenure of the vice chancellor, PU had seen the most-progressive years and all the long-standing issues of the teachers had been solved.
