KARACHI: The growing rift between the Karachi University (KU) administration and teachers became more pronounced on Tuesday when the latter boycotted semester exams in large numbers, bringing campus academic activities almost to a halt.

The boycott call was given by the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) last week over what the body described as prolonged failure of the university administration to address financial grievances of the faculty.

Sources said that a majority of teachers supported the boycott’s call, looking at it as an attempt to resolve their long-ignored financial issues.

The teachers, they said, had been deprived of their dues pertaining to evening classes, copy checking, exam supervision, paper setting, exam vigilance, house ceiling and leave encashment, for a long time.

“The recent unprecedented hike in fuel prices and the subsequent increase in the prices of basic commodities have further compounded our financial woes,” a senior KU teacher shared, adding that retired teachers and the non-teaching staff were also deprived of their dues.

“It wasn’t a sudden, reactive boycott, but rather a logical conclusion of the continued administrative apathy. Despite our various remainders, the university administration took no step to take teachers into confidence, leaving them with no option but go on boycott,” said Kuts president Syed Ghufran Alam, while expressing his gratitude to teachers for standing up for their cause.

The university, he said, was currently facing a deficit of Rs1.3 billion, pointing to the financial mess the institution was in.

On behalf of Kuts, he demanded that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah hold an inquiry into the Rs1.3bn deficit, for transparency and accountability.

“We appeal to the chief minister to help the teachers and university come out of this crisis,” he said.

Kuts, he stressed, would continue with the semester boycott and the next course of action would be taken in the general body of Kuts scheduled for Thursday.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026