Lamenting the sorry state of higher education in Sindh does not mean that school education is any better; perhaps the only difference is in their magnitude. There are thousands of schools and school teachers, including the ghost ones; while the number of public sector universities can be counted on finger tips.

There was a time when the higher education in Sindh could boast of such scholars as Allama I I Qazi, Dr Mahmud Hussain, and Prof Karrar Hussain but then the decline set in. Though it has become customary to blame every evil on General Ziaul Haq, one needs to keep in mind that the process had started much earlier. Qudratullah Shahab has quoted a conversation with the Governor of West Pakistan during General Ayub Khan’s period, Nawab Amir Muhammad Khan of Kalabagh, in which the good Nawab showed his readiness to keep the institutes of higher education shut for years without any remorse.

One remembers the plight of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi (where this writer used to teach during most of the 1990s). In 1999, Dr Abdul Wahab was removed as the director by the then Governor of Sindh, Mamnoon Hussain, and vice-chancellor (VC) of the University of Karachi, Dr Zafar Zaidi, was given additional charge of the IBA. The University of Karachi had more than 50 departments and an ailing VC with an additional charge of another degree awarding institute could not withstand the pressure and died.

And here we are in 2016 -- another ailing VC is running, or trying to run the affairs at the University of Sindh. Pro-VC is supposed to take charge whenever the VC is on leave and that is the crux of the matter behind a strong political economy of higher education in Sindh. During the last couple of weeks, the University of Sindh has once again witnessed protest staged by the faculty; classes have been suspended and the teachers at the public-sector universities in Karachi such as the University of Karachi and the NED University have also observed black days. The recent agitation at the University of Sindh needs to be understood in its broader perspective.

Traditionally, the governor of Sindh has been the chancellor of all public-sector universities in Sindh and in that capacity it was his prerogative to select and appoint the heads of all degree-awarding institutions in the province. Since ZA Bhutto’s time, in most cases an Urdu-speaking (so-called Mohajir or new Sindhi) has remained the governor, while the chief minister is always a Sindhi. With governors such as Kamal Azfar, Hakeem Muhammad Saeed, and Moenuddin Haider, the issue of VC’s appointment never came to light as a major problem; neither was it a bone of contention during General Musharraf’s period when an MQM nominee, Dr Ishratul Ibad, assumed the governorship. It was only when the PPP government came to power in 2008 that the love-hate relationship between the PPP and the MQM starting reflecting badly on higher education appointments.

As long as the MQM was a coalition partner of the PPP, both had to accommodate each other; but as the coalition fell apart mostly on the issue of local government legislation, the PPP decided to deprive the governor of his prerogative in these matters. The Sindh Universities Laws (amendment) Act, 2013 was passed on August 28, 2013, and it was published as an Act of the Legislature of Sindh on September 16, 2013.

Now, the governor had to appoint the VC and pro-VC "on the recommendation of government" and the government deprived the vice-chancellors of their right to appoint or even make recommendations for the appointment of registrar, controller of examination, chief accountant, bursar, and resident auditor. The government was solely authorised to make such appointments. The 27-page document containing the amendment law hardly has anything to do with the quality of education or with teachers and students; its sole purpose appears to be empowering the Sindh government to appoint its favourites on key positions.

Of course, the university management and the faculty considered this law an infringement on their autonomy. The organisations and associations of teachers across the province started protests against this amendment and for two years these protests erupted on and off in most universities in Sindh. Things came to a head in 2015 when the government of Sindh released advertisements in newspapers inviting applications for various senior positions in the universities. Wide-spread protests forced the government of Sindh to announce that the advertisements would be withdrawn; the protests subsided but the government never withdrew the ads.

The recent spate of protests is the reaction of an arbitrary appointment of Prof Imdad Ismaili as the pro-VC at the University of Sindh. Apparently, the VC of the university, Prof Abida Taherani, was never consulted and the appointment was not welcomed by the Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA) led by its president Prof Arfana Mallah.

Interestingly, a couple of years ago the current VC was also appointed pro-VC during the tenure of a former VC, Prof Nazeer Mughal, who himself was not happy at her appointment and gave her a tough time; and now almost the same story is being repeated as the current VC was not welcoming towards the newly-appointed pro-VC.

One professor at the Institute of English Language and Literature of the University of Sindh is of the opinion that the top management should work as a team and the two senior most officials should ideally be working to support each other, but if the two are poles apart personally and professionally, it is going to affect the day-to-day management of the university. He thinks the VC’s consent should be sought before making any such appointments because they have to work closely.

Another professor at the economics department of the same university blames the teachers’ rival groups for politicising this issue. He says that there are other more important issues the teachers’ groups should be struggling for, such as better facilitation for research and academic freedom. According to him, Prof Imdad Ismaili comes from a very humble background with little or no connections with influential groups that’s why certain vested interests were against him.

The VC’s recurrent ailments force her to go for treatment and in her absence the pro-VC is supposed to act as the head of the institution and that’s where the political economy comes in. Prof Mushtaq Mirani of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology wonders why it is only Sindh University that is mired in such controversies. He proudly mentions his own university’s persistent lack of such agitation.

In his opinion, the rival groups of teachers at universities want their own people to be favoured at the time of duty assignments for invigilation and for memberships in various committees such as procurement committee; and then there are opportunities to go abroad to attend conferences for which the approval of the top is required.

Prof Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan, former head of mass communication at Urdu University, Karachi, agrees with SUTA demands for university’s freedom to make management decisions but is opposed to any agitation that results in academic losses for students. He supports complete academic and management autonomy for universities but refuses to accept teachers’ repeated boycott of classes.

So what should be the way forward? Most teachers agree that the government of Sindh should review the law passed in 2013, and neither the governor nor the government should be making appointments arbitrarily; the consent of the VC should always be sought and unnecessary interference should be stopped. The focus should be more on improvement of education quality rather than on installing favourites of one group or the other. Similarly, the teachers’ bodies should be looking beyond their immediate interests and always keep the interest of their students paramount.