Devolution plan: Punjab preparing to take over higher education

This will strengthen the system of check and balances, says minister.

LAHORE:

The provincial government is working on a plan to establish a provincial higher education commission to consolidate its control on higher education in the province.

This will enable the provincial government to exert greater control on public sector universities that currently receive most of their grants from the Higher Education Commission in Islamabad and are regulated by it, a senior official of the Higher Education Department told The Express Tribune.

“Technically, we cannot ask universities to follow our policies. They follow the rules and approved by the HEC because it gives them the grants,” he said. “We cannot intervene in several matters as universities still lie in the jurisdiction of the HEC. The provincial HEC will strengthen the system of check and balance and improve the quality of higher education in the province,” the official said.

The draft of the proposal for the provincial commission has been finalised and will be presented before the provincial cabinet soon, another senior official in the HED said. “The chief minister is on-board with the plan. Once it gets the cabinet’s approval, the bill will be brought to the provincial assembly,” he said.

Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan told The Express Tribune that the work on creating a provincial HEC was underway. “The provincial HEC will be formed after it gets a formal approval from the authorities concerned... I cannot provide the exact timeframe for when it will be established, I can however confirm that most of the work has been completed,” Khan said.



Khan said the provincial HEC would enable the provincial government to maintain a system of checks and balances on public universities. He said that education had been devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment... the provincial HEC would be a step in the right direction.

A spokesperson for the HEC in Islamabad said, “The HEC’s chairman will call on the Punjab governor next week to discuss the matter.” He said there was a Supreme Court ruling that the HEC could not be devolved. “The question that arises is, what is the provincial government trying to achieve by bypassing federal legislation?” he said.

“We should take steps to promote harmony in the education sector rather than create differences,” the spokesperson further said. The vice-chancellor of a public sector women’s university said the autonomy of universities should not be compromised. “The provincial HEC might be a step towards clipping the powers of vice-chancellors. The government should take steps to strengthen the universities’ autonomy,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2013.