Privilege not a duty: Allocating less, paying lesser
“This is how our government treats Higher Education Commission and public sector universities. Soon most of these varsities will be shut down,” said Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) Vice Chancellor Dr Nasir Jamal Khattak.
Funds are allocated to the higher education under two subheads-recurring and development. Salaries of the universities’ staff, funding for research etc fall under the former, while scholarships for students, enhancement of infrastructure of universities and other development projects that currently amount to over 150, function through the latter.
As per the fiscal budget of 2012-13, the government pledged Rs32.7 billion for recurring expenditures and Rs15.8 billion for development.
However, only Rs13.11 billion have been released as recurring grants and only Rs7.9 billion have been provided as development grants till date. The last grant, amounting to Rs4.73 billion, was released on December 6.
Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi, Vice Chancellor at University of Gujrat, said that both the federal and provincial governments are not realising gravity of the issue. “They are distributing laptops among the youth to allure them for upcoming elections but treating public sector universities like stepsisters,” he said.
Kundi said that in the tenure of the present government, thrice the salaries have been raised by the university on its own. They consider releasing funds for education as a privilege not their duty, he said. KUST was established 12 years ago and still the basic structure is to be completed. “The delay in funds in the last four years has been surprising,” he added.
According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the fiscal year 2011-12w as not different. Government announced Rs31.5 billion for recurring expenses, out of which only Rs26.4 billion were released.
Similarly, only Rs9.7 billion of the Rs14 billion allocated for development of education was released till the completion of the fiscal year.
The HEC Member Operations and Planning Nasser Ali Khan informed the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Training (SSCET) on December 5 that HEC is facing a hard time due to piling up of unpaid expenses.
Teachers from Peshawar and Jamshoro expressed their concerns over not getting the “promised raise” in their salaries.
Dr Rasul Bux Raisani, VC of Balochistan University said that the raise is being paid but in 20 per cent installments and even then it is much less than what has been promised.
Kundi said that he met ex-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who promised to address all the funds related issues of the universities but to no avail.
“In order to fulfill the demands, I have to slash sports funds, emergency funds, and savings,” he said. When we ask for the funds we are told to raise the fee, how can we do that for a university where most of the students come from humble backgrounds, he questioned.
The number of public sector universities has increased from 168 to 258 but for some reason or other the government is always hesitant on releasing funds for them on time, he said.
Sheikh Waqas Akram, Minister for Education and Training and a member of the SSCET, promised the faculty members of universities to address this chronic issue and ensured timely release of funds in future. “I assure you that your problem will be resolved and I will take this issue up with the PM in the next meeting,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2012.
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