AHORE, June 8: The Aitchison College principal has terminated the services of `nearly five dozen’ senior teachers with immediate effect `without assigning any reason or following any procedure’. The teachers even included those who had received the ‘Best Teacher Award’ during the last few years. The move has come as a shock for all concerned as the terminated faculty members had been serving the institution for almost over two decades. It is also learnt dozens of junior staff members had also been shown the door. The faculty members, including Acting Senior School Headmaster Mian Muhammad Asif, Prep School’s Deputy Headmaster Mian Shahzada Ali, Dr Hafiz Shaukat Ali of Islamiat department (only PhD at the institution) and several heads of departments, had been shown the door allegedly to “purge the institution”, according to the affected teachers. The heads of departments included Shahid Siddique (economics), Shaukat Ali (accounting), Izhar Ali Zafar (Islamiat), Asif Bajwa (computer science), Asma Zia (English), Waqar Azeem (Pakistan studies), Naeem Raza (mathematics) and Manzar Ali Khan (physics).Principal Shamim Saifullah Khan issued the termination letters over the last two days. While there was no official word from the principal despite several messages left with the college telephone operator, the affected faculty members claimed around 60 out of 225 teachers and over 30 junior staff members had been dismissed from service. They alleged the principal had not followed the laid-down procedure of issuing show-cause notice and allowing the teachers to explain themselves. “The abrupt issuance of termination letters is shocking as well as malicious in nature,” said Mian Asif. He told Dawn he had been issued the letter without assigning any reason despite the fact that he had been serving the institution for the last 20 years and was also awarded the ‘Best Teacher Award’ in 2010. He said he was also serving as acting headmaster for the last three years. He claimed three teachers, who were earlier terminated and later reinstated on court orders, had also been removed from service. Similarly, Mian Shahzada had been serving for the last 25 years. “The Aitchison College principal or the Board of Governors should have issued show-cause notices and identified our mistakes (if any) before taking such a drastic action,” Asif complained. Soon after they were handed over the termination letters, he said, the management did not even allow him to enter his department. He said he had also been issued a notice to vacate the official residence by June 30. Asif disclosed the affected faculty members had decided to inform the media about this and other issues regarding the college at a press conference on Sunday (today). They also plan to move court, if required later. He claimed this massive termination would create a crisis at the institute as it would not be able to hire new staff before March 2014. He also stated schools’ admissions were also opening up in a day or two. Some other faculty members told Dawn Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmud had on January 1 taken a drastic decision of dissolving Aitchison College’s 21-member Board of Governors in a bid “to regain the college’s past glory”. He had removed the then principal Prof Dr Muhammad Hafeez, who had been in office for only 10 months out of his five-year contract. They said similar actions were taken at Sadiq Public School, Bahawalpur, and Lawrence College, Ghora Gali. They also alleged students’ fee was recently increased by 50 per cent that drew a strong reaction. #hewhomustnotbenamed (copied it from a random E2 student)
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:09:42 +0000
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