ISLAMABAD: Four years after it was decided that the portfolio of higher education would be devolved to the provinces in light of the 18th amendment, the federal government appears unmoved.

There has been little or no effort to implement the recommendations of the implementation commission, which had defined the role of the central Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2011. But at a time when the HEC is yet to find its legs, Punjab and Sindh have already formed their own provincial HECs.

The newly-created provincial bodies are not on the same page as the central HEC on several issues, while the other two provinces, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have yet to form similar bodies.

Punjab and Sindh are expected to present their point of view in the next meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), expected to be held sometime next month.

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The provincial HECs are looking to claim their share in the scholarship fund and other financial support from the HEC in the centre, while the body is, in turn, opposing the formation of provincial HECs on various grounds.

“We are going to take up our issues before the CCI. We want to ensure that all stakeholders; the federal government, HEC and the provincial HECs work within their constitutional domain and the provinces are given their due role in higher education sector,” said HEC Sindh Secretary Dr Mansoor Rizvi.

HEC Punjab Chairman Dr Mohmmad Nizamuddin also demanded the implementation of the recommendations made by the implementation commission, saying that the central HEC’s new role as the ‘Commission for Standards in Institutions of Higher Education’ had been clearly chalked out.

Punjab, Sindh have already formed own HECs; provinces to take their case to CII next month

“We are fully agree with the stance that Sindh is going to take before the CCI. We will support Sindh in the CCI meeting are we are considering taking our case up with the CII as well,” Dr Nizam said.

However, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad told Dawn that even though they were not opposed to the creation of provincial HECs, “We have some legal, academic and managerial concerns which we will take up before the CCI”.

The education ministry recently sought the law ministry’s opinion over the formation of provincial HECs, which also expressed certain reservations over the formation of provincial commissions.

A senior HEC official told Dawn that the Supreme Court, in its judgment dated of April 12, 2011, had made it clear that the status of HEC shall remain intact unless it is changed through new legislation.

He said that the HEC’s existing functions were mostly covered in the 18th constitutional amendment under the Fourth Schedulein Article 70(4) of the Federal Legislative List, Part-1 and Part-2.

He said that some people, who had strongly opposed the formation of provincial HECs in the past were now running a campaign against the central HEC for personal benefit.

“If all provincial HECs will work differently and will attest degrees separately, then our youth have to suffer a lot,” he said.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Kaleemullah Bareech, secretary general of the Federation of All-Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association said that in the light of the 18th constitutional amendment and the recommendations of implementation commission, funds for the higher education sector should be dealt with by the provincial governments, not the central HEC.

He said that it had already been decided by the implementation commission that the functions of quality assurance and degree attestations will remain with the central HEC. “We are not against the role of the central HEC, but we want that universities be given funding through the provincial HECs,” he said.

Published in Dawn March 16th , 2015

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