Monumental decision

Pakistan’s below-par higher education standards are not hidden from anyone. The overarching reason for this is demotivation and dissatisfaction among faculty and staff. Faculty members of different universities boycotting classes due to delays in salary payments, salary discrepancies and other issues with the administration have become frequent occurrences. In a bid to address this problem, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has set up a 21-member task force to review and improve the pay scale system in higher education institutions (HEIs).

This decision should have been taken long ago, but better late than never. The task force will introduce new competitive and market-based pay scales to retain the most competent and resourceful academics to lead the country in research and academia. This will be critical in redeeming Pakistan’s academia, which has failed to keep pace with global research and innovation. It is worth mentioning that nepotism, corruption and bribery have long plagued the public education system in Pakistan. Naturally, HEIs have also suffered from the consequences of these malpractices. Therefore, strict regulations will need to be enforced for the hiring of academic faculty and administrative staff to wholly improve the higher education system. The absence of regulatory checks and quality control has allowed academics to get away with shoddy teaching. So, both current and new academics must be urged to maintain honesty during examinations and research.

Pakistan is in dire need of quality higher education to cater to the burgeoning student population and meet emerging technological challenges. Thus, introducing new pay scales is a step in the right direction as it will help alleviate longstanding grievances of faculty and staff and can potentially pave the way for greater reformation of HEIs.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2023.

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