Malik's PhD affects teaching at KU as teachers boycott classes

Zeeshan Azmat
KARACHI: As the controversial honorary doctorate awarded to Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik comes under increased criticism, teachers at the University of Karachi amply demonstrated their disapproval of the PhD by boycotting classes on Wednesday.

The call for a token strike, observed from 11:30am to 1:00pm, had been issued by the Karachi University Teachers' Society (KUTS). "The teaching community at the public-sector university is not happy with the decision of awarding a honorary degree to a person who has done nothing to receive such an honour and that is why teachers observed this token strike," said a member of KUTS.

Meanwhile, the alumni and students of Karachi University also reacted strongly to Malik's honorary PhD and termed it a disgrace for current and former students of the university.

"The management of KU, for reasons best known to them, took this decision, which I am finding impossible to digest," a former student of the Department of Computer Science, Imran, told The News. He added that he discussed the issue with his fellows over the Internet, but all of them had yet to find an accomplishment of the interior minister that would earn him such a prestigious degree.

Expressing his concerns over the matter, he also failed to understand the grounds on which such a decision was taken.

Imran said that while KU may not stand among the best educational institutions in the world, the awarding of a honorary PhD to Malik had had a negative impact on the university.

A student of the Department of English at KU said that the PhD degree awarded to the interior minister would be a massive injustice to medical experts, social workers, artists and other noble personalities who rightfully deserved honorary PhD degrees due to work in their respective fields. If Malik's PhD was on merit, the KU management should bestow other deserving people with such an honour, she added.

Meanwhile, Karachi University Teachers Guild (KUTG), an association of teachers of the public-run university, also strongly condemned the decision of conferring the honorary degree on the federal minister.

The KUTG disapproved the decision by which KU conferred the doctorate on senator Malik and questioned the transparency of awarding the degree to a politician.

At an earlier meeting, the Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) had demanded that Malik's PhD be revoked. There was no harm in awarding honorary PhD degrees, but there must be standards and reasons, a KUTS member told The News.

KU teachers have raised their voice against awarding the PhD degree to Malik at each and every available platform. They have even brought the matter up for debate at the executive and general body meetings of KUTS and the Academic Council of KU.

The issue has created a stir among the university's teaching community that has openly criticised the university management. They said that KU officials had bypassed all relevant bodies and conferred the honorary PhD degree on the federal minister, which was unprecedented in the history of the university.