HEC decision-making body ineffective due to vacancies

ISLAMABAD: Though it raised the higher education budget significantly over the last four years, the incumbent government has not taken any action to form a complete 18-member commission to take decisions regarding higher education and over see the affairs of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), which is for now operating with an ineffective decision making body.

“The issue has been lingering for four years now and it seems some elements want to keep the commission ineffective because [forming a proper commission] is not a big deal,” an official of the education ministry said.

He said it is strange that though it enjoys the support of Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal and State Minister for Education Balighur Rehman, the HEC could not get these ministers to get approval for the names of commission members from the prime minister.

The commission cannot meet due to lack of quorum after a few members retired
He said that till last year, the commission only had 10 members which meant it was hardly able to hold meetings and that it now has less than nine members, making it unable to meet and take decisions regarding the HEC due to lack of quorum.

According to sources, the matter of delays in the appointment of commission members is going on from April 2013 when the HEC had compiled a list of names to fill the vacancies for commission members. However, the list was not moved to the Prime Minister’s Office for various reasons.

After a number of stakeholders expressed concerns, the HEC forwarded a list of over 20 names to the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training for onward submission to the Prime Minister’s Office in Sept 2014.

However, the education ministry objected that the list was compiled over a year ago and so it was outdated.

The list was sent back to be updated and remained with the HEC for a significant period before it was sent to the education ministry once again. A source said the commission is currently ineffective as another member just retired after completing his tenure.

According to the HEC ordinance, the commission members running it should consist of two federal secretaries, four representatives of the provinces, an executive director, one vice chancellor and 10 nominees of the prime minister.

When asked, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said there were some objection to the last list sent for approval because the federal government wanted to appoint educationists of less than 65 years of age and that the list had included names of some educationists who surpassed that age limit.

“Now we have submitted a final list with the names of education experts who are below 62 years of age so they can complete their three-year tenure at 65,” he said.

He added that the commission does not have the required quorum for conducting meetings and that during the tenure of the current government, the commission had done a lot of work for bringing improvements in the education sector.

He said the issue of the incomplete commission will be resolved soon.

Talking to Dawn, Education Minister Balighur Rehman said his ministry had submitted a complete list to the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval.

“The names will be approved by the prime minister soon,” he said, adding that during his tenure, the commission had held several meetings but was unable to meet now because one or two members had retired.

Source: Dawn