KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that he is well aware about the problems of public sector universities and steps being take to settle it.
This he said while talking to a delegation of federal Higher Education Commission led by its chairman Professor Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed. The other delegation members include Dr Raza Bhatti and Syed Naveed Hussain Shah. Secretary Education Fazal Pechuho, Secretary U&B Naveed Shaikh and principal secretary to CM Naveed Kamran Baloch.
The HEC chairman said that there were some duplications of the functions of provincial HEC and federal HEC. On this the chief minister said that he would convene a meeting of provincial HEC to discuss the law.
The Chairman said that the federal HEC was giving grants to the universities working in public sector in Sindh. He added that they were opening some campuses of different universities in TM Khan, Ghotki, Qambar Shahdadkot, Kashmore and Shikarpur.
The chief minister said that he was going to improve university education by taking drastic steps. “I have declared emergency in education sector so that education right from primary to university level could be improved,” he said.
The chief minister said that the federal HEC has Rs91 billion for universities but the provincial universities have some complaints that they were not being given funds according to their strength and ratio.
The chairman assured the chief minister that the provincial universities were being looked after properly but even then he would address their grievances.
It was pointed out in the meeting that 41000 PhDs are required all over Pakistan but hardly 11000 PhDs are teaching in different universities. The chief minister said that he had given special incentives for scholarships for PhD and also gives special allowance for those who possess PHD degree.
The chairman HEC said that he would give detailed briefing to the chief minister on the working of HEC shortly.
