Academics reject idea of monitoring colleges through WhatsApp videos

An announcement from the newly appointed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) director of the Directorate of Colleges Karachi that he will be monitoring public colleges through WhatsApp video calls has met with criticism. Addressed to the principals and administrators of the state-run colleges, a notification issued on Thursday read that information provided by them would be crosschecked and verified through video calls on WhatsApp.“During the video call, the officers of the directorate of monitoring and evaluation may also like to view the class activities, laboratories and condition of the infrastructure,” said the notification issued by M&E Director Zamir Khoso.However, responding to the notification, college staff and the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) have said that monitoring the colleges through WhatsApp was not practical but also unethical.Teachers at women colleges said their colleges would not allow such orders to be implemented as it could hurt the privacy of female students and teachers. SPLA spokesperson Azizullah Memon said the monitoring and evaluation department should resolve the longstanding problems of the colleges instead of coming up with hilarious announcements. He said the monitoring officials should upgrade libraries and laboratories of the colleges and if possible, make efforts for the appointment of teachers to…
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