The HEC saga

The revised HEC bill is still under debate. It has become all the more important to analyse the HEC’s projects under the leadership of Dr Tariq Banuri. The initiatives that were introduced during the tenure of Dr Banuri caused irreparable loss to entire higher education system. What could be more damaging to the already deteriorating standards of research here than eliminating the evaluation of PhD thesis from abroad and linking the doctoral research with the publication of research papers that could easily be done in Pakistan by unfair means?

The HEC also allowed a person who has a bachelor’s degree holder to directly enroll in PhD studies without completing his/her Master’s degree. It also allowed a bachelor’s degree holder to pursue PhD in any subject regardless of his/her academic background and subject relevancy. The removal of the chairperson was a much-awaited step taken by the present government to rescue the HEC.

Dr Shakeel ur Rehman Hissam

Peshawar

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The incumbent government came into power with the slogan of human development which works as the backbone of a country. It was Dr Mahbub ul Haq, a prominent development economist, who introduced the idea of human development. The HEC, as a regulatory authority, should translate the idea of human development into reality. Like Dr Haq, Dr Tariq Banuri is a development economist. As a chairperson of the HEC, he focused on improving the quality of education. Human development cannot be possible without quality education which cannot be possible without the autonomy of education as institution. A developed human capital, which is the product of an autonomous education system, means that one has developed critical, creative, rational and scientific outlook. Instead of fortifying the autonomy of education as institution, the government is thinking otherwise.

Over the centuries, the West learnt that the political and religious intervention in education means undermining human development. Top-class world universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT and Princeton have full autonomy. Noam Chomsky, an American philosopher, in his recent online talk, had remarked that the future of Pakistan depends on the quality of education. The incumbent government, which used the mantra of human development in its election campaign, must foster the autonomy of education.

Saad Malook

Lahore