KARACHI: With the current fiscal year ending on June 30, the public-sector universities are at a loss on the subject of salaries and utility bills of the next month, as the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has still not released their fourth-quarter funds.
“If not July, the crisis is inevitable in August,” said the registrar of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Prof. Dr Qamarul Haq, while talking to The Express Tribune. “The public universities also have to deal with the government’s order of 50 per cent increase in salaries for the upcoming financial year.”
The state-funded varsities are dependent on the HEC to fund routine affairs and development works. The commission releases the money by dividing the approved budgets of the respective universities in four quarters. In the first quarter, 20 per cent amount is paid, another 20 per cent is paid in the second, while 30 per cent funds are given in the last two quarters each. However, for the ongoing fourth quarter, the HEC has only released 20 per cent instead of the 30 per cent funds.
Of its total budget of around Rs700 million, the FUUAST generated Rs150 million through its own resources while the remaining Rs550 million were to be provided by the commission, said Dr Haq.
He believes, however, that the HEC has put all the efforts required in arranging the funds through the Federal Finance Department, unlike Karachi University Teachers’ Society President Prof. Dr Mutahir Ahmed, who blames the commission for not fulfilling its responsibility.
“[The HEC] is the funding agency constituted for this purpose. Until the finance department is declared responsible, the HEC has to take the blame,” said Dr Ahmed. “If the commission has failed to serve the purpose, it should adopt a hands-off policy and let the universities deal with the finance ministry directly.”
Public-sector universities across the country will stand united if they are cash starved even to run their general affairs, he warned.
Dr Ahmed blamed the current democratic government for slashing down the higher education budget to a meagre Rs15.8 billion from the Rs22 billion allocated during military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s reign. “Even the remaining Rs5.5 billion of this slashed budget have not been paid,” he added.
Earlier this week, the KU teachers’ society executive committee had asked the government to resolve the funding problems before the fiscal year ends. The KU Syndicate had approved a budget of Rs3.314 billion for fiscal year 2012-13, of which Rs2.645 billion will be demanded from the government, while the university will generate the remaining amount through its own resources.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2012.
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