Afghanistan: Kabul university staff resign over appointment of Ashraf Ghairat as new VC

• Image Credit: Internet

• Sep 23, 2021 | Deleted

Kabul: Atleast 70 teaching staff, including assistant professors and professors, resigned from Kabul University after the Taliban removed Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Osman Baburi and appointed Muhammad Ashraf Ghairat as the new VC, Khaama Press News Agency reported.

Osman Baburi is a PhD holder, while Ghairat has only a bachelor of arts (BA) degree.

The appointment of Ghairat as the head of the finest and first University in Kabul University has created a storm on the social media platforms.

Netizens also highlighted a tweet posted by Ghairat in 2020, in which he defends the killing of journalists in the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, Ghairat tweeted on Wednesday, “Do I hold a bachelor degree? Yes, I graduated from the journalism faculty of KU, in the year 2008. Do I have enough experience to run KU? Yes, I have almost 15 years of experience working in different parts of IEA, I was a key member of the cultural commission of IEA,”

The Khaama Press News Agency reported, “People are angry over the appointment of a young bachelor degree holder removing an intellectual and experienced PhD holder as head of the first university in Afghanistan.”

Moreover, the news agency added that people, including some Taliban members, also criticized the move claiming that there were more eligible people than him.

Ghairat in the previous government is said to be an employee in the Ministry of Education and was head of the assessment body of universities of IEA in the southwestern part of Afghanistan, a report of the said news agency claimed.

However, the university stated that Ghairat is only the acting vice-chancellor, and the top post can be reshuffle at any time.