ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has sought Rs55 billion for development projects for the fiscal year 2019-20.

During a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Less Developed Areas, which met at Parliament House, HEC Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri said the commission had faced a cut from Rs45 billion to Rs30 billion in the previous development budget.

He said HEC is seeking a Rs55 billion development budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Presided over by Senator Mohammad Usman Khan Kakar, the committee recommended that there should be no cut in HEC funding.

Commission had faced cut from Rs45bn to Rs30bn in previous development budget, Senate body told

Earlier, the committee discussed educational issues in less developed areas of the country. The HEC chairman said the commission has been taking various initiatives for students of less developed areas.

The committee was told that as per its earlier directive of the committee, experts, teachers, representatives of the public sector, researchers and industrialists had been included in the curriculum review committee.

The Senate panel was given a briefing on the Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan package. The committee was told that this package is meant to provide 600 scholarships for masters leading to PhD and that Rs3.139 billion have already been approved for this project.

The committee was told that HEC has been taking steps to provide more scholarships to students from Balochistan and the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

HEC officials said that a one-year Chinese Language Learning Scholarship Program has been started for students of Gwadar at reputed Chinese language learning institutions on the directives of the federal government in order to help Baluchistan’s youth to benefit from China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.

The committee recommended that hostel facilities should be provided in public sector universities in less developed areas.

The committee also recommended that the government provide funding to universities for the construction of more hostels on campuses.

Committee chairman Usman Khan Kakar said students of less developed areas should be provided better opportunities and that HEC should strengthen its regional offices and appoint focal persons to guide students.

He said less developed areas such as Muslim Bagh, Ziarat, Tharparkar, Layyah, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh and others, at least university campuses should be set up as students in these areas are facing difficulties in pursuing higher education.

The committee expressed concern over reports of delays in the issuing of degrees in some private universities, observing that some private institutions had failed students in order to get an extra semester’s fee.

It was decided that the committee will discuss the issue in detail during the next meeting and that stakeholders will be consulted for bringing improvements.

The meeting was attended by officials of the education ministry, HEC, vice chancellors and officials of some universities and senators Fida Mohammad, Mohammad Ayub, Gianchand, Haji Momin Khan Afridi, Kalsoom Parveen and others.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2019