ISLAMABAD: A major faculty at the International Islamic University Islamabad has apparently introduced a new gender segregation policy under which male teachers are not allowed to enter the women`s faculty, and vice versa.

A notification was issued by the dean of the Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, which is one of the largest departments in the varsity and has a teaching staff of well over a hundred.

Although IIUI is already a segregated institute with separate faculties for men and women, the dean`s notification prohibits anyone, man or woman, from enter the other faculty without the written consent of the dean.

The notice raised several eyebrows among teachers and students. DrMohammad Sher, dean of the Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences told faculty members that they have to obtain approval from his office before heading to the women`s campus, whether to take a class, d some research or supervise.

The same restrictions apply to women who want to visit the male faculty.

`This is ridiculous and utterly conservative... we have to walk to the women`s campus several times a day for performing various tasks. After this notification we are bound to obtain written permission from the dean everytime we do so,` said one head of department at IIUI.

The Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences is one of the varsity`s main faculties at IIUI, consisting of seven major departments including the Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Computer Sciences & Software Engineering, Mathematics & Statistics, Environmental Sciences and Physics.

Talking to Dawn, an associate professor said that thefaculty had a strength of around 7,000 students, men and women. `A number of male faculty members, including myself, teach atthe women`s campus and it will be major hassle for us to get approval from the dean for every visit,` he said.

Dr Mohammad Sher, incidentally, is being investigated by the Higher Education Commission on plagiarism charges.

He told Dawn that he had issued the edict at the request of members of the women`s faculty.

`It came to my notice that `unscheduled visits` by male faculty members to the women`s faculty was offending certain members of the teaching staff,` he said.

A teacher from the women`s faculty told Dawn currently, their faculty did not have PhD professors for computer science, software engineering and statistics.

`A number of male teachers have to visit our campus to teach PhD classes, supervise theses and conducting viva voce,` she said. She added that this would bring academic activity to a virtual halt because the dean is not available in his office at all times and it will be difficult to continue activities as usual when he is not around to give approval for such visits.