Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) has rejected the constitution of National Testing Council (NTC) by the Higher Education Commission, saying it is established without approval of HEC’s governing body and in violations of universities acts.
The HEC has established the NTC to hold aptitude test for admission of undergraduate programmes July 2017 in the universities, a press release Friday said. Reacting to recent letter written by HEC to all public-private sector universities for seeking confirmation for adoption of its entrance tests, officials of FAPUASA said it was deliberate effort to undermine the autonomy of the universities which were already under crisis during the last four years.
FAPUASA President Dr Kaleem Bareech, General Secretary Dr Shakeel Farooqi, presidents of all chapters Dr Shehzad Ashraf (Islamabad), Dr Humayun Khan (KP), Dr Fareed (Balochistan), Dr Javed Ahmed (Punjab), Dr Naimatullah Leghari (Sindh) and others said in a statement that HEC has announced testing council in violation of HEC and respective universities act.
As per HEC Ordinance 2002, clause of Article 10 which clearly stated ‘cause to be set up testing bodies or designate any existing body for the purpose”. HEC cannot establish such body and conduct tests by itself.
The actual powers of HEC lies with its 17 members board which deliberated the issue in length. The members of HEC board rejected HEC s’ administration idea to involve itself in conducting tests by declaring it conflict of interest.
Instead of implementing board decision, HEC has involved in conducting tests through establishing new testing body.
This notification is also another deliberate violation committed by HEC administration of Lahore High Court (LHC) judgment on testing issue through Writ Petition 28028/2011.
The court judgment instructed clearly “HEC through proper channel will propose amendment in the ordinance/rules in order to provide a proper regulatory framework for establishing, monitoring and supervising a “national testing service”.
While sharing main recommendations of Task Force on improvement of higher education in Pakistan March 2002, they quoted that universities were the pillars of higher education system.
They must have autonomy from all extraneous influences in order to govern and manage their academic, administrative, and financial functions. In particular, universities must have autonomy to develop their academic programmes; recruit, assess, and develop their faculty; and select, train and educate their students.
It is essential for the management of HEC to restrict its role as per 18th constitutional amendment rather than taking away the autonomy of the universities which has been guaranteed by their respective acts even prior to establishment of HEC in 2002.