Karachi: A bill to withdraw the authority of the provinces to appoint vice-chancellors in universities was submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat.
According to Express News, the federal government of the Muslim League (N) has started efforts to end the autonomy given to the provinces in the field of education in the 18th amendment and in this regard some members of the National Assembly have introduced a private member’s bill. A bill to amend the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan Act has been submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat.
In case of approval of this bill, the authority to select the vice-chancellors of the provincial public universities will be transferred from the provincial governments to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, while the sole and complete regulatory authority of the newly established public and private universities will be the federal HEC. While at present, private and public universities at the provincial level are established in the case of the approval of the law by the provincial assembly and the provincial HEC recommends giving charters to private universities or accreditation institutions in Sindh.
This private bill has been submitted in the National Assembly by members of the National Assembly Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Dr. Samina Mozaal and Zahra Wadud Fatemi, while expressing their concerns on the bill, Sindh Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr. Tariq Rafi and Punjab Higher Education Commission. The chairman of the commission, Professor Dr. Shahid Munir, has also written letters to the chief ministers of their respective provinces, in which the bill has been termed as a violation of the Eighteenth Amendment and worst interference in provincial affairs.
In the submitted private bill, it is said that the provincial and federal governments will establish a search committee for the appointment of vice-chancellors in universities on the written request of the federal and federal governments, which will be headed by the representative of the chairman HEC. After the approval of the law by the Assembly, a search committee has been established and the chairman Sindh HEC is the head of this committee, while other members are also part of the committee according to their position. Appoint.
In this regard, when “Express” contacted Chairman HEC Islamabad, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, and inquired about this bill, he said, “It may be one’s desire to do this, but it is not practically possible,” he said. said that I have also heard about this bill, but the Ministry of Education has prepared an amendment bill and we have had two meetings to review it.
Besides, in the letter sent by Sindh HEC Chairman Dr. Tariq Rafi to the provincial government in this regard, referring to the bill, it has been said that in the proposed amendment in Section 4 of the HEC Islamabad Act, 2002, The Higher Education Commission will be the sole regulatory authority for higher education in the country.
The letter states that some of the proposed sections of the bill have been given so much power to the commission that it is affecting the structure of the federal and provincial governments and since the bill was brought without consulting the provincial governments. It is therefore going against the Council of Common Interests meeting held on 26th February 2022 and its decisions. Sources say that some forces want to pass the Education Ministry Bill by confusing the education stakeholders in this bill.
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