Islamabad [Pakistan], April 3 : Zahoor Buledi, a leader from Pakistan Peoples Party and the former Finance Minister of Balochistan, in a recent parliamentary intervention in Pakistan, highlighted that the universities in Balochistan are collapsing as they are financially crippled.
Zahoor Buledi in a statement said that currently, there are around 1,200 employees at Balochistan University.
"The previous assembly had passed the Universities Model Act under which all the universities are being governed under one umbrella. However several issues persist in universities of Balochistan. Currently, the Balochistan University employees are around 1200 people," Buledi said.
{{{{twitter_post_id####}}}}The University of #Balochistan, one of the largest educational institutes in the province, faces a significant threat as its faculty and #lecturers have been protesting against the government's failure to pay their salaries for the past four months. This issue is deeply… pic.twitter.com/tw7E61E87W— The Balochistan Diaries (TBD) (@BalochDiaries) April 2, 2024
While referring to another university in Balochistan, the PPP leader Zahoor Buledi said that it employs around 900 people today, but combined enrollment in these both universities is around five thousand students.
Hence, more teachers are employed in these educational institutions than needed, therefore, a major part of the university's earnings goes into paying the salaried employees.
Buledi further stated that there is a need to empower the internal planning, finance committees and the auditing mechanism of these universities.
"...The currently active auditing mechanism of these universities is still lacking in many areas. We need to empower the internal planning and finance committees and the auditing mechanism of these universities. This will forcefully stop the universities to stop over-employment of people. Other than this the universities must find out ways to become financially self-sufficient," he added.
In his statement, Buledi suggested creating an endowment fund that can improve the financial condition of the universities of Balochistan.
Recently, hundreds of teachers and staff members of Balochistan University held a sit-in in front of the Balochistan Assembly.
After staging the sit-in, they marched on the main roads of Quetta over the non-payment of their salaries for the past four months.
The protesters stressed that the non-payment of salaries had caused great financial difficulties for them.
They assembled at the university and took out a rally, which passed through the main Sariab Road, Jinnah Road, Zarghoon Road and then reached Quetta.
Moreover, teachers, along with staff members of the Balochistan University set up a camp outside the assembly gate to block the entry of individuals into the premises.
However, people used alternative gates to enter the provincial assembly.
Members of the assembly informed Balochistan Assembly speaker retired captain Abdul Khaliq Achakzai about the protest.
The speaker formed a five-member committee, including Mir Saddiq Umrani, Mir Ali Madad Jattak, Rehmat Saleh Baloch, Agha Umar Ahmedzai and Wali Muhammad Nourzai to address the demands of the protesters.
The committee further held talks with the joint action committee leaders. Informing the committee about their grievances.
The protesters said that university employees, including teaching staff, have not received salaries, which caused financial difficulties, however, the teachers were informed that the funds will be disbursed in the coming days.
After the assurances by the house committee, the joint action committee announced to end the protest.
However, they said that they would resume the sit-in outside the main gate of the university until the issue of delayed salaries was resolved.
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