LAHORE: Bureaucratic inefficiency and red-tapism has been found to be the main factor that created a nightmare for Pakistani students in China when their scholarship funds for the last quarter of the current financial year were delayed.

The chief minister had instructed the University of Education to continue paying the scholarship funds for the students studying Chinese language in China after they were selected on merit under a government-to-government commitment. The university was supposed to bridge-finance and the Punjab higher education department release the required funds.

Owing to the delay and hue and cry raised by the fund-starved students, the PTI government’s critics took to social media to take on the Punjab government, as the scholarship project was initiated by the Shahbaz Sharif government in 2017. Currently, the third batch of around 200 Pakistani students is learning Chinese language in China.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar expressed indignation over non-issuance of funds for the students on time and sought a report from the higher education secretary. He instructed that steps should be taken to release around Rs200 million by Monday (today).

Sources in the chief minister’s secretariat said the University of Education had caused the Punjab government embarrassment by not releasing funds in time despite clear instructions. They claimed that sufficient funds were available with the university. The government was also paying the university at least 15 per cent administrative charges on account of facilitating the students studying in China.

Since the payments had been delayed in every quarter, the sources said, the University of Education was instructed to ensure timely payments for students even if there were technical delays on the part of the higher education and finance departments. They said the university was told that it should release scholarship money from its own funds and write to the higher education department to bridge finance later. Yet, the university delayed the payment, the sources added.

The chief minister has also chided the higher education department over the delay and directed that negligence would not be tolerated again. “Pakistani students must not face any difficulty on foreign land,” the chief minister said.

Sources in the university said the release of funds was delayed because of the higher education department’s failure to send a formal letter on time to pay the students’ scholarship funds.

University of Education Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Rauf-i-Azam said the university used to release funds after receiving instructions from the higher education department. He said the university had already released Rs250 million for the last quarter and the remaining Rs200m would also be paid on Monday (today), adding that a letter from the department had been received.

In the third quarter, Dr Azam added, the university had paid Rs450m for the students in China.

The Punjab government had sanctioned Rs200m on May 27 for placement in the higher education secretary’s account and an audit copy was signed and authenticated by the finance department.

However, an authority letter has not been issued yet by the accountant general’s (AG) office. Higher education department officials say that after issuance of the authority letter, it will transfer funds to the varsity for disbursement to students in China.

Meanwhile, the higher education secretary has tasked a team for coordinating with the AG office and place funds with the university on Monday for further disbursement.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019