After the suspension of a proposed education commission at the provincial level for a period of one year, the Sindh government has moved to materialise the formation of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) with the devolution of the Ministry of Education under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, Pakistan Today has learnt.
In April 2011, the Sindh government had decided to establish its own HEC to ensure proper handling of issues of higher education (including scholarships) after the devolution of central commission to the provinces under the 18th Amendment.
However, the formation of the HEC was suspended for a year, allowing the federal government to run the affairs of the commission for the said period. The move was reportedly taken to calm down the then tense political atmosphere in the country over the devolution of the Ministry of Education. The decision to do so was taken at a high-level meeting, presided over by the then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, where it was decided that the federal government would run the affairs of the HEC for one year.
However, after receiving a go-ahead from central authorities, the Sindh government has now drafted a bill for the formation of HEC which will be presented before the Sindh Assembly for approval, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today. Sources added that Sindh’s education department has prepared a list proposing names of educationists to form a task force which will work out the new HEC’s structure, functions and laws at the provincial level. The list contains the names of the ex-vice chancellors of all public sector universities of Sindh besides representatives of the business community. The education department has also found a number of government buildings to establish offices of Sindh’s HEC.
“We have restarted working to establish Sindh’s own HEC to deal with the affairs of higher education at the provincial level”, a senior education official confirmed. Sindh’s HEC will consist of four to five divisions including grants, academics, administration, finance and a separate division which will deal with issues of the standard of higher education and scholarships. The official added that the standard of higher education was clearly mentioned in the Federal Legislative-II which was not abolished during the passage of the 18th Amendment.
The official also questioned the validity of the concerns of central authorities regarding the Sindh’s government’s ability to run the HEC saying that the Sindh government was already successfully running over 50,000 primary and secondary schools and at least 260 colleges, the official placed his confidence in the provincial government’s ability to manage higher education in the province.
