I am a Masters student in the history department at the University of Chicago. My plans for pursuing higher education have been seriously affected by the governments decision to devolve the Higher Education Commission and to suspend all new scholarships.
I was awarded a scholarship by HEC in July 2010 for pursuing Masters and PhD degrees in History. Due to the devastating floods, the government decided to suspend the scholarships to face this unprecedented disaster. We were told that the funding will resume at a future date when the organisation has more funds available.
I started my Masters by acquiring loans and by taking up a job at the University. A few weeks ago, I received the good news that the HEC had acquired the necessary funds to resume our scholarships from April. I officially accepted the offer and completed the paper work, only to find out that new hurdles had been placed in our way.
I recently received an email from the HEC stating that all scholarships had been put on hold.
The reason was the governments decision to devolve the organisation and the concurrent annulling of contracts between the HEC and its international donors.
This decision has come as a shock for me. Not only are my plans for pursuing a PhD in jeopardy, but I am also unsure about completing my Masters since the HEC had guaranteed me that they will pay for my last quarter at the University.
It will not be fair on my part to criticise the HEC since they have been placed in an awkward position by a hasty decision by the current government.
There has been much speculation on the reasons behind this shocking move, with some citing the refusal of the HEC to tow the government line on the fake degree issue as the main reason for this decision.
When I signed the contract with the HEC, I knew that working at a public university in Pakistan cannot be a source of personal enrichment.
Yet, it was my deep passion for the subject of history, and my willingness to contribute towards the establishment of a strong academic environment in the country, that I decided to pursue this career path. However, I, like many other scholars who were depending on the generosity of the HEC, feel abandoned by this abrupt turn of events.
When we signed our contracts with the HEC, we were asked to guarantee that we will return to the country once we complete our education.
We were ready to keep our part of the commitment; it is unfortunately the government that could not carry through with its commitment of funding our education and has abandoned us midway through our education. How can the government expect its citizens to uphold their words and commitment when the government is blatantly refusing to do the same?
I request the President, the Prime minister and the Education Minister to reconsider their decision of devolving the HEC. We can no longer afford to ignore the importance of quality education and HEC was playing an important role in creating a critical mass of academics in the country. I also request the government to follow through with its commitments and honour the contracts it has made with all the students who are now being refused scholarships.
It will be a great travesty if the government impedes the growth of the academia and fails to honour its commitments for political expediency. I sincerely hope that better sense prevails and we the students are relieved of this agony that we are currently going through.
AMMAR JAN
Chicago, USA
