Pakistan

Zardari to personally look into HEC devolution

President assures Sindh governor that the issue will be resolved in the best interest of the country and masses.

Express April 07, 2011

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has assured Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan that he will personally look into the HEC devolution issue and try to solve the problem.

The Sindh governor telephoned the president to discuss the HEC devolution conundrum.

Ibad informed the president about the stance adopted by the Vice Chancellors of universities in Sindh. President Zardari assured the governor that the issue will be resolved in the best interest of the country and the masses.

The federal government’s decision to devolve the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) duties pertaining to funding and controlling the higher education system has drawn a fierce reaction from educationists, students and other members of the public who will be affected by the decision.

The HEC is presently battling for its survival after the implementation commission of the 18th Amendment categorically said that the education system, including higher education, was no more “a subject of the federal government”.

The decision to devolve the HEC will put the future of over 5,000 students presently studying at various foreign universities at stake and affect public sector universities in the country.

Vice Chancellors conference

Vice Chancellors (VCs) of various universities will be holding a joint conference to oppose the devolution of the HEC.

Sources said that more than 36 Vice Chancellors are participating in the conference and will decide the course of action to be taken with regard to the HEC devolution.

The members are discussing the matter of preventing the devolution of HEC which they believe may reverse the progress made in the higher education sector in the past few years.

VCs are also discussing the new rules and regulations in the educational sector if HEC remains the regulatory authority.

COMMENTS (46)

QuranVsHadith | 12 years ago | Reply @sadia: you are talking about the future? that is EXACTLY what is happening in each and every single university here in Pakistan.. I have worked in a couple as a Professor and the way exucation is being prostituted in this country makes me throw up.. Cheating.. lying.. threatening.. intimidation are the things actually taught in this country... you try to teach these students and they get upset at you and cause all sorts of problems.. Students are not the only one.. you do a good job and other "teachers" start working against you... I can name atleast 3 FULL TENURE PROFESSORS who have plagerized degrees and thesis papers right here in ISLAMABAD.. one was till recently the HOD of a DEPT. There is NO HOPE for this country.. This is not just an Opinion but an EXPERT OPINION of a HIGHLY EDUCATED PERSON!! althought no one will belive it.. and make excuses for everything and anything (even the best doctor will throw up their hands once the cancer has spread thru out the body)... in case of Pakistan all these are CANCER CELLS.. no normal cells exist!!

sadia | 12 years ago | Reply ohhhh it means fake degrees are not a problem in future. degrees will be sold on shop even on venders' shop. ALLAH save pak

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Ali Khawaja | 13 years ago | Reply The new born baby of Higher education was conceived with years of hard labor now these crooks will decide to leave it oxygen deprived for only a little while giving it a serious brain damage. After that they can even decide of change their decision but the damage may take decades to be repaired.

Ali Khawaja | 13 years ago | Reply Hoping against hope that the most crooked man in country, brought in power by the most terrible abuse of the term " Representative of the will of people" will make a decision in favor of making more people educated. Is asking for a miracle greater than miracle. Unless ofcourse he get benefits of few Billion Rupees, he will ruin the future and present of many and many.

Khalid Saifullah Qazi | 13 years ago | Reply The un necessary hue & cry on the matter of devolution of HEC is un bearable. HEC Chairman is acting like Opposition Leader and its ex Chairman Dr Atta is moving heaven and earth crying over the issue. We all must abide by the Constitution.If it requires its devolution, it must be done.

Iftikhar Ahmad | 13 years ago | Reply Education worldwide is a provincial subject not federal. We know that “change is pain” but let face ground reality, As HEC is a part or one commission of Ministry of Education should not politicize devolution, but see the interest of the citizens

Raja Hadi Buksh Balouch | 13 years ago | Reply Govt took a good decision because only punjab get more advantage rather then other poor provinces like Baluchistan, Sindh and kheber pakhtoon khua.HEC send more punjabi then sindhi, balouch or pathan so we like this Govt Stand. only resist people oppose it. if province get this power then they will facilitate there people. at this time only punjab getting banifit from this policy. plz if u want to save pakistan then u should must give more independence to other provinces.

Adeel | 13 years ago | Reply It is requested to Mr. Asif Ali Zardari to take correct decision on this issue as pakistani nation need such a good organizations like HEC.

QuranVsHadith | 13 years ago | Reply @Waqas: You took the words right out of my mouth!

Agnostic Muslim | 13 years ago | Reply @Gul Agha : I agree that the HEC should not administer universities, but it should set and enforce minimum standards for universities to function under.

XX | 13 years ago | Reply How deluded Zardari & co. must be to think that moves like these - 'devolving' HEC - will actually be able to help them prolong their tenure or somehow hold on to more power. The more of these kinds of things they do, the greater their "punishment" is going to be, if any thing.

HEC saviour | 13 years ago | Reply A matric pass is personally going to loon into hec's devolution matter, this is a dilemma of this country

Humaira Batool | 13 years ago | Reply President Zardari assured the governor that the issue will be resolved in the best interest of the country and the masses. remind me of the Raymond's episode :)

Gul Agha | 13 years ago | Reply The constitution must be respected. The federal govt. can provide scholarships, research grants, coordination facilities, advisory boards, etc., but it cannot control the administration of universities as it is against the federal nature of the state. This is how it is throughout the world, including US, Canada, Germany and other democratic federal states. Educationists must respect the constitution and fight to preserve the rule of law. Another way the constitution is being violated is by vesting authority related to educational boards and universities in Sindh in the office of Governor, an unelected federal appointee. This negates the letter and spirit of the constitution empowering provinces and their elected representatives as the finally authority on education. Laws that violate the constitution (often introduced by "ordinance", itself a defective and undemocratic process) must be held null and void. The Courts should have long ago played their role as guardians of the constitutional order.

Silent Spectator | 13 years ago | Reply I wish Zardari could show such keen interest in other more important matters like inflation, increasing lawlessness, and plight of the Pakistani people. To him saving politicians and buddies is more important than saving lives of millions of Pakistanis. A true case of wrong priorities and disdain for the welfare of the people. Alas, what does he know about the importance of higher education.

QB | 13 years ago | Reply Election commission has declared that approximately 35% of votes cast were bogus. Now who consider the current sitting government (both federal and provincial) legitimate???? Why is that not an emergency? Do we really hope that education will be a priority for the current governement when the "Education minister" said "A degree is a degree, whether real or fake" ......... You decide.

Hammad Siddiqui | 13 years ago | Reply I guess HEC is not only about scholarships, its also about regulating the degree awarding institutions in Pakistan. HEC is also a central contact point for any foreign institution that require confirmation about the authenticity of a degree. Currently, it is an independent commission, like SECP or CCP. Devolved HEC will create number of issues. Please discuss those as well, such as fight for funds, corruption under provincial governments, political pressures of all sorts. The most damaging issue, there will be no single point of contact for authenticating degrees for Pakistanies!

Rizwan | 13 years ago | Reply the persons involved behind this devolution must be ashamed on this wicked decision , if you can not do any thing new in the interest of the nation at least do not ruin which is already made and working very nice in the interest of all the educational culture of this country, as a student and I m totally against this action and the real sources that can really help to stop this devolution must do something in this direction who are now a days busy to cry over their sports channels and i will request to stop it plz

Ayub Hafeez | 13 years ago | Reply I request to Mr. Zardari please consider the young students. They are dreaming their better future and you are still unconscious regarding the HEC matter. Look into the matter and declare a best solution. Thanks!

Syed Rizwan Hussain | 13 years ago | Reply The decision taken for the devolution of HEC is a shameful way to take action against the most renowned and prestigious isntitution of Pakistan which has done well and is doing great for the betterment of our higher education system, research and technology. The decision has come up very rapidly and seems to be taken in a hurry which shows the maturity of our leaders to take such an important decision which can affect not only the future of our poor people, and nation but also our country Pakistan. We strongly oppose the devolution of HEC and request our Govt. to reconsider their decision in order to make sure the continued progress in the field of science and technology.

ali | 13 years ago | Reply Sir please save our education system if you cannot do this then you will not be considered a good or best President. please save our future, save our Pakistani students if HEC destroyed then this young nation will not accept you it is the only INSTITUTE which support the poor students in Pakistan your image will not good in the young nation please reverse your decision. i hope you will REVERSE your decision.

Agnostic Muslim | 13 years ago | Reply @saleem: "Out of 10,000 HEC Scholarships; Sindh receives 892, KPK around 1200, Baluchistan less than 100 while Punjab receives more than 8000. Sindh Educational Minister. Hope this time ‘the tribune’ will get through my biased comments." The HEC has indicated that it follows no quota system in issuing scholarships, and neither do the foreign scholarship partners of the HEC such as the US, Japan, and other Western nations. I fail to see what the problem is here in terms of what the HEC does. The problem lies with the provincial education systems in the other provinces, where there is not enough focus on primary and secondary education and therefore the system does not produce enough quality candidates. There is nothing stopping the provincial governments from spending their funds on establishing more primary and secondary schools, and more universities that meet the standards and criteria set by the HEC. Perhaps Baluchistan should cut some of its 50+ cabinet and spend the money saved on establishing more schools and universities. Stop blaming the HEC for pursuing merit based programmes, and focus instead of developing the education systems of backward areas to produce more candidates that meet the criteria for scholarships. That said, the HEC does have a program in place for scholarships for backward areas, where candidates are selected through merit competition only from those areas. But to argue that quotas should be the primary factor in awarding scholarships is a horrible idea.

Habiba Younis | 13 years ago | Reply Oh so this is Gillani's *Year of Education"..? Mashallah.

Agnostic Muslim | 13 years ago | Reply @Nasir Jamal: "When you ridicule Asif Zardari you end up ridiculing the people of Pakistan who made him the president. " The people of Pakistan did not elect Zardari President. In fact, during the election and in the months leading up to Musharraf's resignation as President, Zardari had repeatedly stated that he would not run for public office, either the PM or President seat. Most neutral commentators would also argue that the votes the PPP received were largely because of Benazir Bhutto, not Zardari. Had Bhutto died several months earlier (natural death) and Zardari campaigned as the leader of the PPP, I doubt the PPP would have received anywhere close to the votes it ended up receiving. So do not distort what happened in the elections as some sort of 'mandate from the people of Pakistan for Zardari'. It was not. And while it may rankle, if the 'people of Pakistan' (which would only be an accurate statement if the elections were free and fair and a majority of the electorate came out to vote) choose Zardari and the PPP in the next elections again, after the pathetic performance seen so far in the PPP's term, then the 'people of Pakistan' deserve to be ridiculed and insulted. Yes, even those who do not vote deserve to be ridiculed and insulted, since by not voting they are in essence 'voting' for the status quo. Change is not going to come by sitting at home on election day people!

Sohail Khan | 13 years ago | Reply @Saleem.. Good yaar... You are really an enlightened person. Keep it up.

Iffo | 13 years ago | Reply We should be in Islam completly, thn no one can harm us..

abdulehman | 13 years ago | Reply strong text - sir please save our futre and govt should be taken a good step for education,this is very shame ful,why this govt dissolve HEC

saleem | 13 years ago | Reply Out of 10,000 HEC Scholarships; Sindh receives 892, KPK around 1200, Baluchistan less than 100 while Punjab receives more than 8000. Sindh Educational Minister. Hope this time 'the tribune' will get through my biased comments. http://ejang.jang.com.pk/4-7-2011/Karachi/pic.asp?picname=99.gif

abdul nasir saggu | 13 years ago | Reply good joke

Ron(Indian) | 13 years ago | Reply We are at WAR against Corruption. I request Indians all over the world to support "Anna Hazare" for his fight against corruption. A 73years old giving his life for the fight what are we doing. Atleast support "War Against Corruption" on facebook and twitter. Thanks

Khalid Rahim | 13 years ago | Reply Zardari is going to develop the powers of his mind by exercising his executive powers when he personally delves into HEC pool. Khuda tuj e kisi toofan seh ashan na kar deh keh teri moho joh meh ast ar ab nahi Tu kitab kho ahn hei magar sahib e kitab nahi ---------- Allama Iqbal.

Sheraz | 13 years ago | Reply " Everything is possible and everyperson can do everything " , This idiom is true. Now the politicians (many many many with fake degrees) will decide about the future of education, above all all the politicians are having vested interest and in the end greatest thing President is into it now to do the unimaginable damage because he always do the thing which one can't even imagine. HEC khapp khapp kai khappay.

Danish | 13 years ago | Reply At least the Sindh governor should be given credit for raising the issue with the President.

Umair | 13 years ago | Reply They just wanna destroy pakistan nothing else, they do not have any stakes in our country Pakistan. So, they really don't thought about its future. Our educational system will be collapse absolutely if this devolution happened. pray to Allah that Allah will protect us from these politicians.

Awais | 13 years ago | Reply Dont we need higher education to look into higher education?? I wonder what sort of higher education does our worthy President has

Nasir Jamal | 13 years ago | Reply When you ridicule Asif Zardari you end up ridiculing the people of Pakistan who made him the president. Governor Sindh has talked to President Zardari and MQM leader Altaf Hussain has also urged upon the government to take back the decision of dismantling the HEC, I am sure that the issue will be resolved. Our so-called educated people instead of take practical steps for bringing positive changes in the country content themselves by ridiculing others and making fun.

maria | 13 years ago | Reply it is a request to nation plz do some thing for pakistan plz protest against the devolving of hec.hec is for of future of pakistani student not for the children of politition who have no concern with pakistan and studying abord.governament want to do this because of thair fake degrees.they dont want that poeple know obout their fake degrees that become the under observation of people ofter the recongnation of hec and people came into know about their character.

Amer | 13 years ago | Reply This is probably the funniest thing I heard all day! Zordari is gona look into the HEC matter..... hehehehehehehehehehehe....

HUSSAIN WAZIRI | 13 years ago | Reply Really a gloomy development made by our high ups.It,on other side,will discourage the speedy way of struggle of the nation for research base education in foreign countries.A prudent decision should be taken in order to sustain the present rate of progress in higher education .

Asmat Jamal | 13 years ago | Reply Mr President Please do not devolve HEC. This will destroy a very high-quality system produced through the efforts of diligent and educated elite of this country. May God give you the strenght to take a correct decision on the matter.

Hedgefunder | 13 years ago | Reply LOL ! Now why would this guy want to look into this issue personally??? Guess there is some lovely Vitamin M, floating around this devolution !!!!!! (Money) I notice SK, refers to him as " most literate" well these credentials are still to be established, as we still don't know which University he got his degree from !! Even thou he claims to have attended LSE in London , who incidently do not have record to that effect.

Ammar | 13 years ago | Reply I hope he'll take decision in the best interest of the country by not devolving the HEC.

Abrar | 13 years ago | Reply So now a Matric fail will decide the faith of PHDs ...... Simply pathetic !!!

Yasir Khokhar | 13 years ago | Reply There has been so much mess ups in the public organizations. Can't the govt spare one of a very few organizations in the county which is perofrming well. The budget on eudcation has already been brought down, probably one of the lowest in the regions. And yet another wound. Mr. President,you qoute all the time that the remittances have reached around 10 Billiion Dollars, you need to know that it is just becuase of those Pakistanis who go abroad and help you minimize your budget deficits. As students, we support HEC, as it-is and would appreciate if you (The Govt) keep out its dirty politics.

SK | 13 years ago | Reply okay now that most literate and honorable president is taking personal interest, all the ills of HEC will be cured- May HEC rest in peace!!

Waqas | 13 years ago | Reply He himself gonna look how much % he can get out of this devolution!

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