PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday voiced concern about the federal government’s decision to stop funding to public sector universities across the country in the next financial year.

During a provincial assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, higher education minister Meena Khan Afridi urged the federal government to reconsider its decision in “the larger interest of the students and future of the country.”

“Funding denial can potentially grind higher education to a halt,” he warned.

The minister said public sector universities in the country got Rs65 billion grants annually from the federal government through the Higher Education Commission, but the amount was not enough for them to effectively manage their affairs.

Warns move will grind higher education to halt

“The centre has capped funding for the country’s government universities since 2016–17, despite a significant increase in their expenditure,” he said.

The minister said vice chancellors of those universities had been pushing the federal government to increase their annual collective budget to Rs100 billion, but the latter, instead of meeting their demand, slashed their grants unjustifiably and without consulting provinces.

He said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had declared an “education emergency” in the country to promote education.

“Whenever an education emergency is declared in any country, its government releases huge sums of money to further the cause of education by facilitating the sector and framing education-friendly policies, but this doesn’t happen in Pakistan. The government rather announces the suspension of funding for public sector universities,” he said.

Mr Afridi urged opposition parties having representation in the assembly to play their due role in the restoration of those funds.

During the supplementary budget debate, Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah Khan criticised the significant increase in the province’s debt burden, which, he claimed, went up by 300 per cent over the past decade under Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s rule.

He pointed out that the province’s loan obligations ballooned from Rs65 billion in 2013, when the Awami National Party government left office, to Rs465 billion by the end of the PTI’s two terms, highlighting a substantial escalation in borrowing.

The opposition leader wondered what good the PTI had done to the province by taking so many loans.

He also criticised the provincial government for removing the partially executed development schemes from the Annual Development Programme 2024–25 and insisted that the move would waste the funds already utilised on those projects.

Dr Khan demanded that the government include need-based development schemes in the ADP and not politically motivated ones.

Pakistan Peoples Party member Ahmad Karim Kundi demanded that the speaker form a house committee to compile a report on the loans obtained by the provincial governments in the last 15 years.

He said that the committee should also be tasked with “analysing” those loans and informing the house whether they’re used for public welfare project or not.

MPA Abdul Ghani Khan complained that a forest fire that erupted in the Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district three days ago hadn’t been doused yet as no one could reach there.

He said the area was a “no go area” due to the presence of militants.

The lawmaker urged the speaker to direct the government and relevant authorities to take immediate action to contain and extinguish the fire, preventing the devastating loss of the entire forest and its valuable tree resources.

The chair put off the session until Monday.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2024