Experts denounce HEC devolution as ‘political vendetta’

Opine that handing over the commission would spell disaster for higher education.

The seminar on “HEC and Higher Education in Pakistan” was organised by the Physics department of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on Thursday. Prof Tahir Amin, chairperson of the department, said that it would be wrong to say that the HEC is being handed over to the provinces under constitutional or legal obligation. Rather, he termed the move a “political vendetta” developed in the aftermath of the degrees’ verification process.

He added that most parliamentarians, as well as a former law minister, possessed degrees of dubious authenticity. He maintained that the devolution of HEC to provinces at this stage would be a disaster as far as higher education is concerned.

Prof Amin said that each province would set its own standard rather than follow a centralised and uniform standard. He argued against the desirability of such a situation by referring to the “pathetic state of education” in the provinces at primary and secondary levels, where large numbers of ghost schools are discovered from time to time.

“What will the future of education in provinces be when a provincial chief minister says that a degree is a degree whether it is fake or original?” he questioned, recalling a recent remark made by the Baloch chief minister on the fake degrees issue. The professor said that the capacity of provinces should be built up first before the responsibility is shifted to them.

Dr Khursheed, a professor at QAU, noted that the provinces were not in a position to handle such a huge responsibility. He advised the government to establish regional offices of the HEC in the provinces and then shift the responsibility to provincial governments in phases. While he was happy with the performance of the HEC so far, he thought there is still much that could be improved. He said, “Universities must focus on quality along with quantity.”

He also talked about the urgent need to address the problem of some universities starting PhD programmes without having qualified faculty.

Aasim Sajjad of Pakistan Study centre at QAU advised against believing that every problem related to higher education was resolved during the last eight years. He asked all people to handle matters on a factual and rational basis.

He noted that devolution had long been an object of the focus of various governments, including the Musharraf regime, but the media only created controversy about devolution when democratic governments were in power.

Mushtaq Gaadi, who teaches at QAU, said that the HEC had served primarily as a vehicle for the commercialisation of higher education as opposed to an institution that improved quality, accessibility, or equity in higher education.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2011.