Panel voices concern over reduction in HEC budget

Expressing serious concerns over the curtailment of budget for Higher Education Commission (HEC) by the federal government, a parliamentary panel Tuesday said that this step has created serious challenges for the Pakistani students studying abroad and locally.

The Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas met here under the chairmanship of Senator Usman Khan Kakar to discuss HEC related matters with major focus on Balochistan and formerly Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA).

The officials of the HEC while responding to committee's queries regarding their budgetary requirements and government's allocation said that the HEC demanded Rs 103.5 billion for the fiscal year 2019-20, but the government approved Rs 59 billion, and Rs 28 billion for the development sector against the demand of Rs 55 billion. The panel also condemned the federal government for dropping university projects to be built in FATA and strongly recommended that the university project initiated in Dara Adam Khel almost 7-8 years ago be taken up expeditiously.

The officials of the federal education ministry briefing the panel on budgetary cuts stated that education is a devolved subject and land allocation and initial funding for universities has to be provided by the provincial government. The committee observed that the federal government shouldn't have dropped these schemes under the name of rationalization of PSDP and decided to call federal minister for planning and development in the next meeting to discuss the matter.

The committee was given details of the local and foreign scholarships and financial assistance facilities provided to students of Balochistan. It was told that 397 foreign scholarships, 4,213 local scholarships, 2,688 indigenous need-based scholarships and 30,000 students have been given fee reimbursement while five projects are ongoing for students of Balochistan. The committee upon earlier direction was also shared details of all these students from Balochistan along with full names, father's names, districts of domicile and CNICs to carry out an assessment whether these students are actually from Balochistan or not.

The committee members observed that due consideration should be given to construction of adequate number of hostels in universities across the country so that students, especially girls from less developed areas, can comfortably stay and study. The committee was told that HEC has made the space and construction of hostels a mandatory requirement for every university project to be approved.

The panel was told that classes in the Information Technology University, Muslim Bagh, will begin in March. The committee members strongly recommended that projects of Livestock University Musakhel, and Forest University Ziarat should be included in the next year's PSDP and work should be expedited as free of cost land has been provided for both the universities and temporary building can also be provided so that classes can begin till the actual construction is done.

While discussing the Ehsaas program launched by the government, the panel was told that so far 61,600 applications have been received under the program for people of low-income background (minimum Rs 45,000 annual income) and selected students will be given monthly stipend and tuition fee waiver and no pay back will be demanded by the student upon completion of study. Out of these applications, 3,799 applications are of students from Balochistan. The committee observed that most students from Balochistan come from humble backgrounds and all of them should be accommodated even if the quota slightly exceeds.

The committee while discussing a number of issues regarding education sector made the following recommendations: (i) HEC should have regional offices in less developed areas so that students from those areas are able to get themselves aware of any and all educational and scholarship opportunities available. The provincial governments will be requested to provide land and funding for the same. (ii) Student unions should be restored and active participation in the political process be allowed. (iii) Female hostels in Balochistan University should be re-opened as early as possible. (iv) More medical scholarships be given by HEC to students of less developed areas. (v) More people from Balochistan and ex-FATA should be given employment opportunities in HEC and universities and government ban on recruitment should be lifted. Two hundred and sixty five medical scholarships should be restored as per previous criteria. (vi) Federal Urdu University should have sub-campuses in all provinces of the country. (vii) Annual reports of HEC should be regularly shared with the Committee.

The meeting was attended among others by Senators Mir Hasil Bizenjo, Kalsoom Parveen, Anwar Lal Deen, Khalida Parveen, Haji Momin Khan Afridi and Gianchand, and senior officials from the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training and Higher Education Commission.