ISLAMABAD - The public universities of Pakistan are on a verge as they face serious financial crisis under the governance of PTI which had educational development as their major motive in their ruling manifesto.   Despite the worsening financial situation of the public universities of Pakistan, the budget for educational sector of Pakistan is nearly half of what the HEC had demanded from the educational ministry for this year 2020. The budget is even far more lesser than what was generated in the previous year, 2019.  While talking with TheNation, the President of All Pakistan University Academic Association (APUAA) Dr Sohail Yousaf revealed that the educational sector of the country was facing acute shortage of funds by the government.   Yousaf stressed that despite the crisis that the educational sector of Pakistan was facing, the government had fixed a budget for the universities which was far less than what they allocated in the previous year.

“If compared with the last year, the budget fixed in this year is 21 billion less than what was fixed in the previous year”, said the incumbent.

On contacting the Higher Education Commission, the Project Manager for Social Sciences (PMSS) Murtaza Noor told this correspondent that despite of repeated requests to the education ministry of Pakistan for more funds, there was no help coming from the government.

Murtaza briefed that despite of working on new projects regarding the education, the government must need to correct the existing universities. According to him, the situation of the public universities of Pakistan was worse than ever. He stressed that this year was the worse for the educational sector that the country have ever experienced.

Explaining about the worsening situation of the educational sector, Murtaza briefed that there were 206 different universities all over the country, out of which 104 were public universities and needed government funds to function and operate smoothly. 

However, the official stated that the allocated funds which the HEC is informed about is half of what they had demanded.

 

Elaborating the case, Murtaza told that they had demanded 103 billion as reckoning funds- which are for the expenditures like salaries to faculty and staff, the research and lab costs and excectra- but the government have decided to give 59 billion which is almost half of what they had expected in return.

 

Furthermore, the request for non-reckoning funds- which are for the development of the universities and campuses- was 55 billion rupees but the government has decided to give 22 billion for this matter.

 

Murtaza also told that lately, Qaid-e-Azam university had taken a loan of nearly rupees 5 million from a private party owing to the financial crisis that almost every university is facing in Pakistan.

 

But when this correspondent reached to the Vice Chancellor of QAU Muhammad Ali Shah and questioned the official regarding the loan, Mr Shah explained that they had easily allocated the funds as they have a lot of resources and were not facing any sort of financial crisis.

 

The University of Peshawar have also informed the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about their inability to pay salaries and pensions for this month January. The document available with Thenation states that the university is unable to pay salary and pension on 1st Feb 2020 due to the financial crunch and worsening situation of the university.

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