Advocating For Faculty Rights: APUBTA Decides To Protest Outside HEC Headquarters
News Desk
Islamabad: All Public Universities BPS Teachers Association (APUBTA), the only registered and directly elected representative body of BPS teachers of all public sector universities of Pakistan, has decided to stage a protest demonstration followed by a sit-in outside the HEC head office in Sector H-9, Islamabad on Tuesday.
According to the press release issued by the APUBTA management on Sunday, thousands of BPS teachers from public sector universities across Pakistan, including Islamabad, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, are set to participate in the sit-in. This protest will continue until the Higher Education Commission accepts their primary demand.
APUBTA’s sole demand is the issuance of a notification confirming the approval of a service structure and promotion policy for all BPS teachers in public sector universities. It is important to note that the HEC has previously provided written commitments regarding this matter in the past.
The protest and sit-in are being organised in response to the perceived discriminatory and exploitative policies of the HEC, as well as the delay tactics employed by the higher education authority in approving the promotion policy for BPS teachers in public universities.
BPS teachers in public universities have been systematically denied their fundamental right to promotion due to the lack of a service structure, which is a result of what APUBTA characterizes as the criminal negligence of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) since its establishment in 2002.
As per section 10(q) of the HEC ordinance 2002, the higher education authority is responsible for establishing criteria and guidelines for the promotion of university’ teachers, a responsibility that it has failed to fulfill for over two decades since its inception. This situation has resulted in severe issues related to promotion and seniority for over 50,000 BPS faculty members in public sector universities.
APUBTA has been struggling to address the promotion-related problems of the varsity teachers since 2020 and it has staged several highly successful nationwide protests. During this period, it also held scores of meetings with HEC officials and convinced the latter on this issue.
Thus, HEC officials signed written agreements with APUBTA on October 20, 2020, October 14, 2021, March 10, 2022, and July 24, 2023, making a commitment every time that the service structure/promotion policy for BPS universities teachers will be approved and notified with a period of 2-3 months.
APUBTA has been making efforts to address these promotion-related problems since 2020, staging numerous nationwide protests and engaging in multiple meetings with HEC officials.
Throughout this period, HEC officials signed written agreements with APUBTA on October 20, 2020, October 14, 2021, March 10, 2022, and July 24, 2023, each time committing to approve and notify the service structure and promotion policy for BPS university teachers within a period of 2-3 months.
Additionally, HEC officials made commitments before the meetings of the Senate Standing Committee on Education on August 22, 2022, and the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education on February 3, 2023, promising the prompt approval of the promotion policy for university teachers.
Despite directives issued by parliamentary committees, HEC officials reneged on these commitments and violated their promises to FAPUASA (Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association).
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Since the last written commitment from HEC, approximately three months have passed without any action taken by the commission to approve the promotion policy for BPS university teachers. In light of this, APUBTA has determined that a nationwide protest followed by a sit-in outside the HEC head office in Sector H-9, Islamabad, on October 31, 2023, is their only recourse. APUBTA’s leadership is steadfast in its commitment to continue the sit-in until the HEC accepts their sole demand: the issuance of a notification regarding the approval of the promotion policy for BPS faculty members.
The leadership has made all necessary arrangements, and convoys of thousands of public university BPS teachers from across Pakistan, including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, will begin their journey to Islamabad on Monday to participate in the protest on the following day.
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