Lack of funds jeopardises higher education sector

KARACHI - The higher education sector in the country has been threatened by new policies of the present government as nearly 59 public sector universities are suffering from monetary crisis after refusal of the federal finance ministry to release the Higher Education Commission's fourth quarterly instalment of development and recurring grant worth over Rs 8 billion for 2007-08.
According to an HEC official, the government's step to withhold HEC grant has created hurdles for public universities to carry on their projects.
"However, grants and funds have been provided to all higher learning institutions of the country for various projects and payment of salaries to their employees. The fourth quarterly instalment was due in April, but not a single penny had been released on account of the grant so far; this situation will aggravate the situation at the public-sector universities. In the regard, the higher-ups, including Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani have been asked for intervention into the matter to get the grant released," he said.    
He said, "The present government is not aware about the fact that higher education and scientific research in present time is very expensive undertaking. This is far less compared to India (7 per cent of its GDP) and Malaysia (2.7 per cent) and some other developing countries.
The government has forgotten the marvellous efforts of the HEC to boost up the higher education sector in the country under the leadership of Prof Dr Attaur Rahman.   
It is worth mentioning that the Karachi University is not beyond to current financial crisis being faced by the HEC, as the Karachi University is also waiting for Rs 220 million. Conversely, the Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology is also in need of Rs 70 million from HEC.
It is may be noted here that the decision of the government to deprive the higher education sector from its required monetary is being criticized in the educational circles of the country nowadays.