Classes will continue to remain suspended for 45,000 students at Karachi university today (Monday) as the teachers have not been paid yet. The boycott started on Friday.

“All the academic activities ie, examination and classes will remain suspended (including tomorrow - Monday) till the disbursement of the salaries,” Karachi University Teachers Society Secretary Syed Faizanul Hassan Naqvi said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Around 1,000 teachers — including 650 permanent faculty and 400 visiting teachers — started the boycott on Friday to protest for their salaries. They were joined by over 2,000 non-teaching staff facing the same predicament.

The boycott of academic activities came after the November 30 decision of the KUTS’ executive council. They have requested teachers to wear black bands on their arms to show solidarity with the FUPAUSA Sindh on their call for Black Day.

The University of Karachi, which generates Rs8 billion in revenue yearly, has not paid Rs350 million in monthly salaries, which includes a mere Rs150 million for teachers, Aaj News reported on December 3. But this is not the only failure that has angered the teachers. The university has also run up a Rs100 million backlog on payments to teachers for the evening program over the past one and a half years.

Salaries were delayed in November too, according to the KUTS body. The mismanagement had already interrupted academic and research work.

Documents seen by Aaj News indicate that KU estimated it will get Rs8.4 billion from these sources in the ongoing fiscal year 2022-23.

The grants from the government are paid every three months. The Sindh government installment never arrived this month and so the university could not pay salaries. It should never have been living by the skin of its teeth, at the mercy of each grant because KU makes at least Rs3.7 billion — nearly half of its income — directly from students. (This is Rs3.2 billion collected in tuition fees, other fees, and hostel charges. The remaining income from students includes fees collected from external or private candidates and affiliated colleges.)

The University of Karachi spends only one-fourth of its revenue, or Rs2.5 billion, directly on education. Only a small proportion of around Rs540 million will be paid for research and library this year out of over Rs4 billion. This includes money placed at the disposal of deans to use for search activities.