Whenever the country undergoes a period of economic downslide, the government begins its economising plan by conveniently reducing the share of state resources allocated for the higher education sector however, such ill-planned frugality has come at the cost of the development and sustenance of academia in Pakistan, which is hanging loosely by the thread.
Although the recent wave of recession in the country has negatively impacted all domains of human welfare and development, the higher education sector has been undergoing an unending phase of stagnation since the past five years, which could extend indefinitely into the near future considering the federal government’s impromptu decision to limit the funds directed towards provincial academia. In the current era of unforgiving inflation, this announcement has come as a bolt out of the blue for universities across the country, which were already entrenched in a variety of administrative and financial issues including the unavailability of a permanent vice-chancellor, non-payment of salaries and discontinuation of research and development activities, which are indispensable for improved pedagogy and greater returns to higher education.
“It is not reasonable to leave the provincial universities on their own like this,” says Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad. “If the provinces are unable to disburse the budget and the federation limits its funding as well, how will the affairs of the universities be run? Since the past five years, a measly budget of Rs65 billion has been fixed by the federal government. We have requested for the budget to be increased to Rs126 billion for the new financial year 2024-2025, but currently the matter remains undecided.”
Sindh and Balochistan
Shedding light on the plight of public universities in Sindh and Balochistan, which are struggling to manage their affairs given limited resources, Kaleemullah Barich, President of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) and Professor at the University of Balochistan, revealed that the teachers and employees at the varsity had organised a sit-in to protest against the non-payment of their salaries since December last year.
Meanwhile Dr Ikhtiar Ghumro, Professor at the Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, and Central General Secretary at FAPUASA confirmed that their university was at present under an overdraft of Rs200 million. “The Sindh University Jamshoro and Agricultural University Tando Jam are also facing similar overdraft issues after the payment of salaries,” he says.
“We can only increase tuition fee to a certain limit since it is not a permanent solution to the financial deficit,” laments the vice-chancellor of a public university in Sindh, on condition of anonymity. “Increasing fee will only increase the economic woes of parents in this era of unemployment and inflation. Since salaries are being increased by 20 to 30 per cent every year and inflation has been reported as high as 34 per cent, it has become extremely difficult for us to maintain academic excellence given the limited funding that we receive from the state.”
According to data obtained by the Express Tribune, the share of the annual budget allocated for various universities in Sindh has reduced drastically over the past few years. For instance, the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology received 65 per cent of the budget 14 years ago, but presently receives only 28 per cent of the total budget. As a result, the annual financial loss of the university has reached Rs934 million. Similarly, the share of HEC's grant in the annual budget of NED University and the University of Karachi has gradually declined from 51 per cent and 48 per cent to 31 per cent and 30 per cent respectively during the past five years.
Punjab
The state of academic decline was not much different in Punjab where data from the Higher Education Commission Punjab indicated that out of 36 government-run universities, 28 were functioning without a permanent vice-chancellor due to which research, development and policy-making was at a halt resulting in the gradual deterioration of academia. These include the University of Punjab, University of Home Economics, Lahore College for Women University, Government College University, University of Faisalabad, and University of Education among others, which have also not received any grants by HEC since 2018.
“No new research has been done in the universities, nor have any development works been initiated,” said Amjad Magsi, spokesperson for the Punjab University’s Academic Staff Association.
“As a result, the student’s academic and career prospects are being compromised. All political parties in the current government had announced during the elections that they would spend four to five percent of the GDP on education, but these were mere empty promises. While the Punjab University is facing a loss of Rs2.5 billion, the University of Okara is struggling to pay salaries while all other universities are facing a shortage of staff across various faculties. Moreover, no new universities are being established in the province even though the population is increasing.”
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Similarly, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) the matter of paltry financial resources allocated for the provincial higher education sector was brought to the fore in a letter to the Chief Minister of K-P, written by Dr Jehan Bakht, chairman of the University Campus Coordination Committee and the University of Agriculture. It disclosed the fact that since the past six years several public universities in K-P including the University of Peshawar, Islamia College and the University of Agriculture among other educational institutions were facing severe financial deficits due to a lack of funding from the federal and provincial governments as a result of which a majority had failed to not only pay off the due salaries to their staff but also to maintain the fundamental administrative tasks of the institutions.
“The Islamia College, one of the classical universities in K-P, has been unable to pay off salaries for the months of May and June to its staff,” reveals Shahnawaz Khan, vice president of the Islamia College Teacher Association, In fact, salaries are always pending at the college. Given such financial issues, most of the teachers in public universities are now applying for jobs abroad to secure a better future for themselves since they are treated like slaves in the country.”
He further disclosed that despite generating a revenue of 72 per cent, the budget of the college was fixed at 28 per cent.
According to sources obtained by the Express Tribune from the Governor Secretariat for the financial year 2023 -2024, 34 universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) were facing a surplus deficit with the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar short on Rs977 million, the University of Peshawar in debt of Rs469.54 million, Gomal University D. I. Khan requiring Rs434 million and the University of Agriculture in need of Rs187.716 million. Furthermore, for all the 34 universities, at least Rs41 billion were required for routine expenditures while only Rs1 billion were available for funding research. The shift away from promoting research was evident in the declining share of resources directed towards research and development activities in K-P, with the federal grant for the University of Agriculture declining from Rs1365.279 million in 2022 to Rs993.73 million in 2023. Similarly, the federal grant for the Islamia College declined from Rs447.318 in 2022 to Rs446.2 million in 2023.
“The faculty of universities and education experts in K-P hoped that once the democratic government was elected, they would address the issues faced by teachers in addition to resolving financial problems of the universities,” says president of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association in K-P. “We will soon write to the higher education minister to urge him to add only those individuals in our committee who are related to the education department.”
Dr Nizam, former Head of HEC Punjab believes that in addition to declaring an emergency in the education sector in Punjab, the structure of academics in schools, colleges and universities should be reformed in accordance with technological advancements with the assistance of local and international academics.
Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, Meena Khan Afridi, Minister for Higher Education in K-P says that the provincial government is serious about resolving the financial problems plaguing the faculty of universities. “We will soon call a meeting for the amendment of the Universities Act of 2012 for the betterment of our education sector,” she declares. “Once the amendment is made after consultation with all the relevant stake holders, it will be passed in the K-P assembly.”