Insufficient funds: KU and NED’s yearly grant should be doubled, says MQM

Party's education committee pays a visit to KU vice-chancellor

KARACHI: The Sindh government has not released a single rupee to the University of Karachi and NED University of Engineering and Technology since last year, even though universities were supposed to receive Rs5 billion in the annual development programme (ADP).

A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPAs shared these concerns with the vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi (KU), Prof Dr Muhammad Qaider on Thursday. They discussed the financial issues faced by the varsity and suggested ways to resolve them.

The four-member MQM team, which comprised Khalid Iftikhar, Anwar Raza, Jamal Ahmed and Naheed Begum, demanded a raise in the yearly funds for KU to provide better educational services to students.

"The grant should be increased to Rs3 billion from the present allocation of Rs1.4 billion," demanded MQM MPA Khalid Iftikhar.

The committee also demanded the Sindh government to refrain from discriminating among universities in the province and divide the funds equally. "In the last one year, not a single rupee was given to KU and NED but funds from the ADP were allocated to Lyari University and other universities in rural Sindh," said Iftikhar. "Education should be equal for all."

On the use of grant money, he said that the grant that KU receives is hardly enough to pay teachers’ salaries. "There is an extensive need for funds to keep the research work going," he pointed out.

"The administration raises annual fee just to meet the needs and provide the best education at KU," he said. Quoting facts and figures from research conducted by NGO Alif Ailaan, Iftikhar said that the numbers show a dismal lack of infrastructure and facilities in Sindh as compared to other provinces. The MQM team will be visiting other universities, such as NED and University of Sindh, Jamshoro, in the coming days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2015.