Higher Education In Pakistan: In Reverse Gear On An Uphill Drive
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7358″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan that replaced the University Grants Commission was supposed to do wonders for the sector. It did for a while before constitutional amendments empowered provinces to go their own way. The results have been rather unpleasant, writes Dr Shaukat Mahmood.
Public universities in Pakistan were once cruising smoothly under the University Grants Commission that Pakistan set up on the lines of the UGC formed by the British in 1945. Today, the higher education boat appears to be in high waters. The pre-partition UGC was set up to oversee the work of the three central universities of Aligarh, Banaras and Delhi. Its responsibility was extended in 1947 to cover all Indian universities. In August 1949, a recommendation was made to reconstitute the UGC along similar lines as the University Grants Committee of the United Kingdom. This recommendation was made by the University Education Commission of 1948-1949 that was set up “to report on Indian university education and suggest improvements and extensions”. In 1952, the Indian government decided that all grants to universities and higher learning institutions should be handled by the UGC and later in November 1956, the UGC became a statutory body upon the passing of the “University Grants Commission Act, 1956” by the Indian Parliament. In 1994 and 1995, the Indian UGC was decentralised and its operations handed down to six regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore. The head office of the UGC remains in New Delhi.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In Pakistan, universities were formerly accredited by the UGC established in 1947, the institution was revised in 1974 and gained its modern form in 2002 under the leadership of Dr Ata-ur-Rahman, the founding chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Additional executive reforms were granted by the constitution and HEC now operates directly under the prime minister, while not being subservient to the Ministry of Education. Under new and revised reforms, HEC was supposed to be responsible for formulating higher education policy and quality assurance to meet the international standards as well as accrediting academic degrees, developing new institutions, and uplifting existing ones. Can one imagine during one of PPP’s rule when Benazir Bhutto was the prime minister, Khurshid Shah was the federal education minister. It is up to the readers to consider Khurshid Shah a synonym or an antonym to education.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Development
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The major developments in the higher education sector occurred under the leadership of Ata-ur-Rahman. Rahman did a decent job during his stint, although at the cost of giving a lot of importance to his own projection, particularly through HEC publications. The transformation in the higher education sector was duly acknowledged. After Dr Ata-ur Rahman resigned in protest in 2008 over the suspension of scholarships of Pakistani scholars studying abroad, the university development programmes slowed down, mainly due to cuts in budget and introduction of cumbersome bureaucratic procedures.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7356″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The government was not interested in education, let alone higher education. Dr Rahman invited a number of senior and experienced teachers from abroad under the Foreign Faculty Program (FFH), but these people were left in the lurch when he resigned. Thereafter, HEC’s influence in facilitating the higher educational system, its efforts to upgrade universities and degree-awarding colleges took a nosedive. Over the past several years, the performance of HEC has declined. Gone are the days when it played a vital role towards building a knowledge-based economy through the grant of hundreds of doctoral scholarships.The education system in Pakistan was based on the British system, as it was what we inherited at the time of partition. However, most of the henchmen sitting in consequential positions have been educated in the US and been trying to implement the American system in Pakistan, It hasn’t really worked well. A semester system has two semesters in a year, each lasting sixteen to eighteen weeks. But during the summer vacations, there is no summer school for students who fared poorly to reappear in tests and improve their performance. When semester one ends, you cannot be readmitted in the next semester one. Admissions are made on an annual system, so one half of the year has semesters one, three, five, seven and nine etc only, while the other one only offers semesters two, four, six, eight and ten.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This is simply a mockery of the semester system. There is complete lack of discipline too. Unscheduled closures often take place resulting in absolute failure of time-frames. Neither classes are held on time nor are the tests; examinations and quizzes are rarely held according to schedule. Unfortunately, HEC has remained oblivious to these failings and never thought of addressing these issues. The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment has also brought more miseries for institutions of higher learning through HEC. A report published in a section of national press in February 2019 says, The 2018 annual report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan described the state of higher education in Pakistan in one sentence: “The focus has not been on the promotion of higher education, but on legal battles and survival issues.” Under the 18th Amendment, the provincial governments were supposed to establish their own higher education commissions (HECs). But, despite the passage of almost 9 years, the provinces have not constituted their own higher education commissions. Until now, only Punjab and Sindh have set up their own HECs, while Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir have failed to make any substantial progress on this front.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Power Play
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If HEC under federal government was one problem, the problems have only multiplied after the introduction of the 18th Amendment. Smaller provinces do not bother to establish their own HECs taking cues from Sindh and Punjab. When Sindh and Punjab established their respective provincial higher education commissions through acts of assembly per the 18th Amendment, they only ended up in a legal battle with HEC who termed the move a violation of the Supreme Court orders. From there has ensued a long battle over who gets to do what, and what not. There is now an uneasy stalemate over their respective roles and less than ideal working relations. This fracas has inadvertently badly affected the performance of both the federal and provincial organizations. There have been unexplainable incidents like provinces directing vice chancellors to not attend meetings called by HEC and a lot more. Resultant, the higher education sector has suffered the consequences. Grants and scholarships have been cut down, decision hierarchies have become confusing and the little progress that occurred has come to a grinding halt. Who will be cleaning up this mess for a greater common good? Nobody really has the answer.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]TAIL PIECE
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Federal HEC has a special knack for issuing new rules, directives and orders every other day, which often border on hilarity if not outright ridiculousness. One of their most ignominious project was introduction of TTS, the so called Tenure Track System –which proved an absolute disaster. I shall write about the failures of HEC in the next issue of Academia Mag, InshaAllah.
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