LAHORE: Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Hamayun Sarfraz says creation of the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) under the 18th Amendment was a mistake.

Terming the PHEC a ‘useless entity’, he says the “amendment is not a sacred document which can’t be changed.”

He was addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the Lahore Education Reporters Association (LERA) at the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Campus on Wednesday.The minister said some of the provinces, including Punjab and Sindh, had established their education commissions which were overlapping the role of federal Higher Education Commission (HEC).

He said if the [PTI] government attained a two-third majority in next vote, it would make education a federal subject. “The previous governments had made some mistakes in shifting higher education to provinces and this mistake could be rectified,” he said.

Talking to Dawn by phone, the minister said the HEC would have to make regulations for higher education. He said the HEC, which was also accrediting the degrees of various educational institutions, should establish offices in different provinces for implementation of its policies in colleges and universities.

He was of the view that the education policy should be drafted at national level and all other federating units should follow and implement it.

He said the HEC was working as an autonomous body while the provincial HEC was a supplementary body to assist the higher education department.

The minister said the government had defined the role of the provincial higher education commission in the Council of Common Interests meeting.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2021