ISLAMABAD: Higher education can have high value in Pakistan but not funds, it seems.
Dawn has learned that in the new financial year, beginning in July, the recurring budget of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) may be cut by Rs5 billion from the Rs39 billion the federal budget for the current financial year allocated it.
Since the cut would “affect everything” in the HEC, it has conveyed to the Ministry of Finance that it can ill afford the cut, said an insider.
State Minister for Education Balighur Rehman, told Dawn that the lowered ceiling indicated in a preliminary exercise did not mean the government was going to cut the funding of higher education.
After noting that the HEC is under the Ministry of Education, Training and Standards in Higher Education and gets its funds from the Ministry of Finance, the minister said, “However, education is one of the priorities of this government and we will support HEC so that budget for higher education only goes up”.
In fact, he expected the budget for education in the federal area and the provinces “to go up like last year”.
On the other hand, Executive Director of the HEC, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed confirmed that the HEC had sent “its case” to the Ministry of Finance against a likely cut in its funding and the government responded by informing that the case will be discussed in the Priorities Committee of the Ministry.
“There the HEC will highlight its needs and justify why it cannot afford a cut in its recurring budget,” he added.
However, the government has indicated to HEC that funds for its development initiatives next year would be same Rs18.5 billion as this year.
Dr Ahmed said that the government funded 60 per cent of the Rs80 billion budget of the HEC for the current financial year, and the remaining 40 per cent it raised through its resources.
According to him the recurring and development budget of the HEC together made up a mere two percent of its total budget, which the academia wished was at least four percent to improve quality of higher education in the country.
In the fiscal year 2012-13, the predecessors of the PML-N government had allocated Rs429 billion for education, Rs69 billion of it for the federal capital.
Professor Mansoor Kundi of the University of Balochistan, who has also served as Vice Chancellor of Gomal University, opposes any cut in the education budget anywhere.
“Shortage of funds has always been a major problem in public sector universities. And cuts in budgets will only cripple the HEC which has endeavoured to promote the cause of higher education in the country,” he told Dawn.