ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr Attaur Rehman Saturday said if the government didn’t continue with the educational reforms introduced by the military government, things would not move in the right direction.

He was speaking as chief guest at the golden jubilee celebrations of Pakistan Academy of Sciences to mark the successful fifty years of the academy here.

“We have just come out of an era of criminal neglect in the field of science and technology wherein the previous governments, be it military or civil, have not paid required attention to the field, as a result the country’s premier research institutions have degenerated,” Dr Atta said.

Dr Attaur Rehman, who was also elected president of the academy, maintained that in the last one decade budget for the research bodies had been curtailed, hence the research fellows could not deliver and preferred to leave the country.

He said the budget for the said purposes had been increased from Rs120 million to Rs7 billion and now it all depended on the incumbent government how it utilised the money.

He criticised the oil-rich Islamic countries of the Middle East for not making investments in the field of science and technology.

He said even a smallest country like Austria had more GDP than that of any of the 57 Islamic countries. This, he added, clearly shows that what should be the main concern of the developing countries in the times to come.

Referring towards his recent visit to the People’s Republic of China, he said science and technology had been the key factor in its development.

He said a satellite would be in place on December 20 and four new channels would soon start functioning through which courses of universities of international repute would be available on air.

Mr Atta said HEC had also set up a fund of Rs100 million, which would be distributed for research projects in public and private sectors.