ISLAMABAD: At a time when Pakistan has the world’s largest out-of-school children and because of the poor quality of higher education even many PhD degree holders are without jobs, a parliamentary committee in single day approved 19 bills for the establishment of new higher educational institutions on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s education standard is not up to the mark as none of its universities is among the world top 300 universities. The country has over 250 public and private universities and many believe there is a need for focusing on quality in the existing institutions instead of establishing new ones. While in school education too, Pakistan lags behind many South Asian countries as currently it has over 22 million out-of-school children - the world’s largest figure.

However, it seems there is no focus on improving quality in existing institutions and more and more new institutions are being opened. The Senate Standing Committee on Education headed by Senator Irfanul Haq Siddiqui on Tuesday approved 19 bills for new higher education institutions.

“The focal point of the meeting was the review of bills referred by the House, aimed at establishing new Higher Education Institutions across the country, mostly private universities. Through extensive discussions and thoughtful deliberations, the committee reached a consensus, resulting in the approval of the majority of the bills,” said a statement issued by the committee after the meeting.

The bills passed by the committee included The Askari Institute of Higher Education Bill 2023, introduced by senators Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani and Hidayatullah Khan, the Metropolitan International Institute of Science and Technology Bill 2023, introduced by Senators Kauda Babar and Naseebullah Bazai, the Rahim Jan University Bill 2023, introduced by Senators Syed Mohammad Sabir Shah and Naseebullah Bazai, the Islamabad University of Communication and Emerging Sciences Bill, introduced by Senator Mohammad Abdul Qadir, and the Kalam Bibi International Women Institute Bannu (Amendment) Bill 2023, introduced by Senator Kamran Murtaza.

The statement said these bills were meticulously examined and aligned with the stringent criteria outlined by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, the committee identified certain bills that did not meet the prescribed HEC criteria, and others were rejected due to the absence of their respective proponents.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education, headed by Makhdoom Syed Samiul Hassan Gillani, also met on Tuesday to review the longstanding issue of degrees’ attestation of 54,000 students of different universities and higher education institutes (HEIs), mostly unauthorised private universities.

The managements of these HEIs were however advised to withdraw their litigation against the HEC and provide data of complete fee record, attendance, enrollment, transcripts, results etc., of their students to the commission for early resolution of the issue.

The committee was told by the convener of a subcommittee MNA Mohammad Hamid Hameed that it held two meetings on the issue of non-attestation of degrees of thousands of students. The HEC, being cooperative, expressed an inclination towards resolution of the issue subject to fulfillment of its criteria.

The standing committee, endorsing the recommendations of the subcommittee, urged the HEC to hold a special session and review the issue on case-to-case basis as a one-time dispensation.

The committee also advised the HEC to impose penalty of Rs0.5 million per complaint against those universities/HEIs who demand any extra charges in the name of attestation fee from students.

Meanwhile, regarding removal of the name of “Open International University for Complementary Medicine Colombo Sri Lanka” from illegal and fake universities list of HEC, the committee recommended that all possible measures be taken to resolve the issue at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2023