This will surely be the death-knell of not only higher education but education in general in Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to an article in your newspaper of March 27 titled “The last stand of the Higher Education Commission”. Indeed, a later report said that decision had already been taken to devolve the powers and functions of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to the provinces, as a result of the passage of the 18th Amendment.
If this is the case, this will surely be the death-knell of not only higher education but education in general in Pakistan. This is because education in the country has lagged far behind the rest of the world and was on the verge of collapse when Professor Attaur Rahman was given charge of the HEC — and he took various measures to revive it. All that will come to naught if the devolution happens. Also, it will be good to have a central authority on higher education.
What is the need for this clearly counter productive course of action? Is it because the HEC chairman, Dr Javaid Laghari, has been steadfast in his refusal to follow the directives of the government on the validation of degrees of members of parliament?
Asghar Qadir
Centre for Advanced Mathematics & Physics
National University of Sciences & Technology
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2011.
