Sindh Higher Education body in doldrums after Dr Asim Hussain’s arrest

KARACHI: After the arrest of Chairman Sindh Higher Education Commission (SHEC) Dr Asim Hussain, working of the Higher Education Commission in Sindh has been affected and work on important projects has come to a halt. The commission did not hold a single joint session in the past 18 months. It is important to note that Dr Asim Hussain was arrested more than 15 months ago.

On the provincial level, a Higher Education Commission was first formed in Sindh, which was followed by Punjab.However, after the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain, Sindh’s commission has become non-active. On the contrary, the education commission of Punjab, headed by Dr Nizam, has become extremely active.

To solve the problems of students in Sindh, Dr Asim Hussain had established the IBCC at the provincial level to help students attest their education diplomas from abroad in Karachi, instead of sending them to Islamabad and waiting for a long time to get their diplomas attested.

In the same way, the College of Physicians and Surgeons had to be established under the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Sindh. Apparently, a bill was also prepared for this purpose, but it couldn’t work because of the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain.

Due to Hussain’s absence for over 15 months, a joint session has not been arranged yet. The secretary and director are looking after various positions. This is the reason why a joint session has not been scheduled as of now. Related officers are not available in the office after 2pm because of which the universities of Sindh have not been issued their funds yet. The issuance of funds that was made two months ago was also done on the basis of universities, not enrolments. The universities enrolling 2,000 students also received Rs100 million grants, while universities like the Karachi University and Sindh University that enrol around 30-40,000 students a year also received Rs100 million grants.

Meanwhile, SHEC Secretary Naveed Shaikh said that even in the absence of Dr Asim Hussain, they tried to call joint sessions twice. However, no member accepted to preside over the joint session in the absence of Dr Hussain. They said that they were trying to call a joint session again now and in this context they wanted a senior member of the commission, Justice Deedar Shah, to preside over the joint session to reinvigorate the Higher Education Commission of Sindh.