Higher Education Commission in trouble
Oct 23: The Higher Education Commission, set up in 2002 under the Pevez Musharraf-led government as a body to regulate higher education in the country, seems to be running into increased trouble as a result of budgetary cuts by the new government. A development grant of Rs4 billion, due this month, has reportedly been cut to Rs2 billion. The HEC budget had also been slashed earlier, with some quarters suggesting this may have been one factor in the decision by the former chairman of the body to step down.
The HEC has been a somewhat controversial setup. The policy of spending a huge percentage of the country's limited education budget on higher education, accessible to a tiny minority in a nation where literacy still stands at little above 50 per cent has been questioned by many. Very few of the children who enroll at schools are able to make it to colleges, especially given that the dropout rate for primary school is almost an astonishing 50 per cent (among the highest in the world). The argument then goes that Pakistan needs to focus on improving education at the primary level as a key priority. This having been said, the HEC has to its credit some achievements.
In a situation where standards have slumped so sharply that employers report encountering post-graduates unable to describe global warming or write even a short paragraph with originality and coherence, the HEC's efforts to push up the level of dissertations and of scientific research is commendable. So are its' efforts to tackle the menace of plagiarism, with several cases involving academics uncovered at prestigious universities. For these reasons, it would be wise to keep the body intact and ensure it can continue its role – even while directing more attention to the state of education at lower levels. The News
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