IN today`s world, technology-enabled systems operated by astute minds have priority over most other things. Educators who teach technology-related subjects, especially in public-sector universities, therefore, deserve the highestlevelof respect, recognition and support.

I serve as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST). We currently teach thousands of students across a wide range of computer science courses. Most of these students come from middleand lower-middle classes, and cannot afford the fee of private universities. Upon graduating from public institutions, they play a vital role in Pakistan`s development by working as cybersecurity professionals, network administrators, software developers, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) experts, and data scientists.

Despite the pivotal role in building the nation`s digital future, public-sector faculty members receive no special recognition or elevated status. We earn the same salaries as faculty in other departments, even though student interest in many traditional disciplines has significantly declined, while computer science programmes have been witnessing a surge in enrolments.

This overwhelming influx of students places an immense burden on the specific faculty, yet this increased workload isneither acknowledged nor adequately compensated. The federal government as well as all the relevant stakeholders in Pakistan`s education system should consider elevating the status of fculty members dealing with technology-related subjects.

Dr Muhammad Khalid Shaikh Karachi