Teachers concerned over reports of imminent slash in HEC budget

KARACHI: Associations of university teachers have expressed concerns over the expected 50 per cent cut in Higher Education Commission of Pakistan’s (HEC) budget.

Reacting to the media reports that said that the federal government was considering the HEC budget by 50 per cent, Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) President Prof Dr Shah Ali Ul Qader said that during the last four years, the government had been constantly slashing the HEC budget causing severe financial issues for public universities.

He said that the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (Fapuasa) Sindh chapter and KUTS believed that slashing the HEC budget was a conspiracy against higher education in the country.

He added that nations all over the world spent highly on educational development but unfortunately education in Pakistan, especially higher education, was considered a burden. Prof Qader urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to increase the budget for higher education by 200 per cent in view of the current situation of public universities. He added that the budget for higher education and research should be given directly to the universities instead of handing it over to any task force.

The teachers’ association at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) Abdul Haq Campus said in a statement that the federal government’s decision to reduce the budget of the Higher Education Commission from 65 billion to 30 billion would paralyse higher education across the country.

Dr Faisal Javed and Roshan Soomro of the FUUAST association said that reduction in the budget of higher education would deprive thousands of students from access to higher education and research.

They warned that protests would be staged if the government did not change the decision. They lamented as the varsities would have to stop development works and research activities would be severely affected in case the budget for higher education was slashed.