HEC affairs

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is in the news once again – and (once again) for all the wrong reasons. First the PTI government decided to make unnecessary decisions regarding the HEC, reducing the term of the HEC chairman to just two years and then giving extraordinary powers to the executive director who happened to be a retired bureaucrat. Former chairman Tariq Banuri won his case in court but the government of the time kept creating one problem after another. When the new government assumed office, there was hope that most of the wrongs committed during the previous government’s tenure would stand corrected. But the new setup appears to be least interested in improving the higher education sector.

The current government is now proposing amendments to the HEC Ordinance 2002 that have irked most of the heads of higher education institutions in the country – both private and public-sector universities and degree awarding institutions. At the heart of the matter is the autonomy of the HEC. One would think most everyone would be of one mind regarding this: that the autonomy of the HEC must not be curtailed under any pretext. In a meeting held on Dec 12 at the HEC Secretariat, a majority of the VCs was reported to have voiced concerns against the proposed amendments. The original HEC ordinance had stipulated that the commission would remain an autonomous body rather than controlled by the Ministry of Education or the PM’s Office. Now the proposed amendment that the Ministry of Education is advocating appears to be an attempt to vest the controlling authority of the HEC in the PM’s Office – though the proposal maintains that the prime minister would delegate his/her powers to the education minister. Another amendment suggests that the status of federal minister for the HEC chairman be abolished. On paper, the HEC with the prior approval of the ministry would be allowed to make rules for carrying out the details of the HEC Ordinance. All this indicates that the HEC will be required to get tasks from the ministry and submit its annual performance report to the division concerned. There is nothing wrong with submitting a report but getting tasks from the ministry would severely hamper the autonomous working of the HEC.

Rather than concentrating all powers in its own hands, the government should try to implement the 18th Amendment that stipulates the devolution of education at all levels to the provinces. In the case of higher education, provincial HECs should be strengthened and with the next NFC Award, more finances should be given to the provincial HECs. The federal HEC should be focusing on the degree-awarding institutions that fall under the direct purview of the federal government charters. According to reports, the government is also planning to make drastic reduction in the composition of the commission itself by eliminating representation of the provinces. If the HEC confines itself to the federal institutions, and allows provincial HECs to function properly, there will be no need for any provincial representation. But without such delegation of powers to the provinces, there is no need to eliminate their representation from the HEC for now.