Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman Professor Dr Attaur Rehman has announced Rs 1.5 billion for the development of higher education, while Rs 250 billion would be spent on the establishment of another nine universities in the country.
Addressing at the inaugural session of the HEC pre-conference on "Managing Energy Demands-The New Global Energy Paradigm" organised by the Karachi University at the Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) on Friday, he termed incapable teachers a "hindrance" in the development of the education sector.
He said the project for generating solar energy was under consideration, adding through installation of windmills in various parts of Sindh, particularly in Gharo and Hyderabad, around 10,000 MW electricity could be generated.
Elaborating, he said the government had approved Rs 1.5 billion for the higher education to award scholarship to 10,000 candidates annually for PhD studies abroad. Earlier, 500 candidates were being given scholarship under the higher education scheme, he added.
He observed only 3000 teachers out of 10,000 have PhD degrees and said incapable teachers are a "stumbling block" in the development of students' personality and education system. The chairman warned the government would revoke charters of those universities, which failed to meet the HEC standards till June 30, 2007 and would be demoted to college grades, adding the government was looking to put a ban on all illegal universities operating in the country.
He said the government would introduce a "Tenure Track System" for teachers, which would help professors acquire three-fold higher salaries than a federal minister.
Regarding solar energy production, the HEC chairman said a project was under consideration in PSEIR to generate solar energy, which was the utmost requirement of the country. He said the energy could also be produced through other natural means, including waterfalls, seas, oceans and rivers.