Islamabad: The Academic Staff Association (ASA) of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on Wednesday observed strike to protest cuts in the higher education budget.

The strike was part of a black day announced by the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA). Faculty members wore black armbands and held corner meetings in which they expressed their dismay at the apathy of the authorities concerned who, they said, always gave step-motherly treatment to education.

The academicians regretted that with the recent cut many ongoing projects in various universities of Pakistan would be closed.

They demanded of the federal government to increase the overall budget for education up to five per cent and allocate at least 60 per cent of the total proposed budget for higher education.

The ASA members expressed full confidence in FAPUASA and vowed to fully support it in its efforts to improve education standards and ameliorate faculty members’ lot.

They pointed out that in Pakistan the overall allocation for education was not even half of the five per cent of the GDP which was minimum spending set by Unesco for a country.

They said spending on education was in fact investment in future and was considered development expenditure the world over, whereas in Pakistan development allocation for education faced maximum cuts.

Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Association of the Alama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) also observed black day. The academicians of the varsity boycotted the classes for four hours.

The academicians of the varsity showed strong resentment against budgetary cut of universities. They pointed out that the scope of higher education was at its peak during the last eight years but after the budget there would be a drastic decline in the graph.

The Alama Iqbal Open University staff association president Dr Iqbal Shah pointed out that the HEC model was now replicated by the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development but in Pakistan it had become low on government priority.

The association vice-president, Dr Shabbir Ahmad, termed the recent budgetary cut as ‘brutal murder of higher education’ in the country. Dawn

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