PM rubbishes reports of HEC budget cut

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government will make no reduction in the budget of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for the next fiscal year 2022-23.

The premier’s clarification comes after vice-chancellors of public sector universities expressed concern over the government’s proposed budget of only Rs30 billion for higher education’s recurring grant against the rationalised demand of Rs104.983bn

The prime minister said that he has directed the ministry of planning and the ministry of finance to follow the instructions while preparing the next year’s federal budget. He said that the decision has been taken to avoid the closure of several university programmes and to ensure smooth continuity of international higher education agreements.

The prime minister also directed to reinvigorate the HEC on the pattern it was functioning during the previous government of the PML-N. He said the cuts in the budget of HEC during around the four-year tenure of the previous government had put a negative impact on higher education, that needed to be reversed.

Prime Minister Sharif stressed the need to focus on the revival of educational projects at universities across the country. The prime minister urged a significant increase in the resources of the HEC and the provision of necessary facilities to the faculty and students.

Reacting to the proposed cut in the HEC budget, over 120 heads of public sector universities, who attended a virtual meeting from across the country had urged the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and others to urgently look into the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2022.