Vice-chancellors of public sector universities on Thursday showed serious concerns and strong dismay over the drastic cut in the higher education budget for the fiscal year 2022-23.
They expressed the apprehension that the cut would make it impossible for universities to pay salaries and pensions let alone meet the overall expenses needed to run a university.
The Ministry of Finance has communicated IBC (indicative budget ceilings) of only Rs30 billion for higher education’s recurring grant against the rationalised demand of Rs104.983 billion. The allocation is 45 per cent less even than the current year’s allocation (FY 2021-22) of Rs66.25 billion.
Over 120 heads of public sector universities, who attended a virtual meeting from across the country, were unanimous in lamenting the government’s decision for the unprecedented cut in the universities’ budget and urged the prime minister, the finance minister and the minister for education to urgently look into the matter and enhance the budget to avoid the subversion of long-term socio-economic goals of the country, and save the higher education sector from total chaos and collapse.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2022.
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