Sherry Rehman submits resolution against HEC ordinances

ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Senate, Sherry Rehman, submitted a resolution of disapproval against the Higher Education Commission ordinances in the Senate Secretariat.

Submitting a resolution against the HEC (amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (No IX of 2021) and the HEC (second amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (No X of 2021), the PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman, said she had moved a resolution under sub rule (2) of rule 145 of the Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business in the Senate 2021, read with sub paragraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of clause (2) of the Article 89 of the Constitution for disapproval of these ordinances. “We cannot let Tabahi Sarkar manipulate the HEC’s autonomy, and bringing this ordinance can overnight change the term of the HEC chairman from four years to two years”.

Senator Rehman said instead of investing in education to ensure the future of the country, this government has in fact reduced the HEC’s budget. “Their priorities are so skewed that they have not been able to even allocate a fixed percentage of the GDP to the higher education,” she further added. She said it was shocking that the budget allocations for the HEC have not kept up pace with the growing needs of the sector, instead, the government was after the reputable state institution and trying to destroy it. Vice-president PPPP, Senator Sherry Rehman, said the government needed to realise that it was not a decision that they could take alone. She asked the government that why were these ordinances not laid in the parliament to discuss, adding that the PPP would not let the government bypass the parliament and would not allow an ambush on the HEC’s autonomy.