ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training on Monday unanimously passed a bill titled ‘The Global Institute Bill, 2022’ for granting charter to a degree-awarding institute (DAI) in the private sector which will have Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from South Korea.

The bill was moved by Senator Shahadat Awan.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Irfanul Haque Siddiqui at the Parliament House. The bill was approved unanimously after a detailed briefing.

The said bill had already passed from the National Assembly (NA). Committee members said that they intended to visit the site allocated for the university and evaluate its framework and progress.

Opportunities for research in management, IT will be provided to local students

HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that this will be a degree-awarding institute (DAI) in the private sector and its sponsoring body is THMC Education System (Private) Limited.

The committee was told that the proposed DAI is the only institute in the private sector with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from South Korea in the education sector of Pakistan with objectives to further strengthen the linkages between Pakistan and South Korea.

The institute will improve the quality of education in Pakistan and provide the Pakistani youth with opportunities for research in the areas of management, information technology and so on.

Meanwhile, Senator Siddiqui stressed that the HEC chairman must empower the educational sector. He decided to organise a special meeting with regards to finances and funds of the HEC to evaluate the financial model of the institute.

A plan must be formulated to resolve problems in the HEC, he said.

The committee decided to visit the HEC for this.

Chairman of the committee expressed regret that the minister as well as the secretary (Ministry of Education) were not present at the meeting.

Members unanimously endorsed the re-nomination of Senator Nuzhat Sadiq as a member of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE). The matter was sent to the committee by the chairman Senate for ratification and it was ratified unanimously by the committee.

Regarding the matter pertaining to BPS promotion status and its resolution as committed by HEC, the HEC chairman apprised the committee that the academic committee of the commission decided to constitute a sub-committee (comprising of vice-chancellors, representative of Ministry of Finance, MOPE&T, APBUTA) to review the existing draft policy.

Since then, two meetings of the committee have been held so far. The final recommendations of the sub-committee will be placed before the academic committee and subsequent to the commission for consideration.

About the public petition submitted by a citizen, Din Kalam Khan Wazir, regarding the transfer of female teachers from Tribal District North Waziristan to Abbottabad, the committee chairman said it should be taken up at the earliest and needs to be resolved as committed by the Minister for Education.

The additional secretary assured the committee to look into the matter and resolve the issue in coordination with the Provincial Minister for Education.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2022