Academic Staff Association, University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Saturday protested non release of funds to Higher Education Commission by the government

Academic Staff Association, University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Saturday protested non release of funds to Higher Education Commission by the government and given the HEC under the head of Ministry of Professional and Technical Education. The teaching community, wearing black ribbon, held a meeting to register their protest against the non release and discussed the ways to give voice to their feelings through peaceful protests. ASA President Prof Dr Muniar A Shiekh said that the association will continue protesting against the decisions, hampering the process of development of higher education across the country. Giving details about the action plan of protests, he said that from June 11 to June 16, they will begin token protests of two hour in a day from 9:00 am to 11:00 am by wearing black ribbons if their demands were not met. He said that from June 18 to onward, two hours classes strike will be observed till the restoration the previous status of HEC and release of funds. Showing his concerns, he said that the non release of funds will bring the academic and research activities to a standstill. He said if the funds were not released, it will be impossible to pay the salaries to the staff next month. He said that only Rs 2 billion out of Rs 8 billion had been released for the HEC, raising a question mark on stability of higher education.